Candy, Tricks, and the Devil
by MoonAbyss
Summary: Kaya Toya isn't excited at all for her first day. But when Marui, Kirihara, and Niou show her there is more to Rikkai than academics, she is looking at the bright side of things, until everything changes between all of them. MaruixOC KiriharaxOC NiouxOC
1. Enter, Kaya Toya

"Kaya, wake," I heard footsteps enter my room, but I simply rolled over in bed, "up!" I was pounced and I guess it was my other brother, seeing as how I was being squished under my piles of blankets. I squirmed until I was free. I sat up and saw him smiling up at me.

"Kane!" I playfully smiled back. "Why must you always wake me up like that?" I asked, pushing him off of my bed. He stood up and ruffled his black hair before answering me.

"Well, since I'm hardly ever home, I figure, the least I can do is wake you up." He said, shrugging and pulling down his plain white t-shirt. I rolled my eyes and got out of bed and stretched out my arms. Kane was good brother and an over all good guy. He attended high school and worked part time at a local café, where he brings in tons of female customers. "So are you excited? It's your first day at a new school." He pressed, leaning against my bedroom wall with his arms crossed. "Rikkai is a good school, I enjoyed it while I was there." He added, closing his eyes and nodding his head, smirking, like he was recalling some memories.

"I guess." I muttered, finally starting to make my bed. I had to admit, I wasn't excited at all for my first day, in fact, I was dreading it. My father and brother had moved to Kanagawa for work, while mom and I stayed in Tokyo until I had finished my first year of middle school. We finally moved in with dad and brother, leading me to transferring middle schools. Well, at least it's the first day. "I'm kind of nervous." I lied, knowing he was already suspicious of my strange behavior.

"Oh, well that's normal. I thought maybe you didn't want to go." Kane replied, going towards my counter, where the box my clean, new uniform was in. He grabbed it and handed it to me. "You're already a second year in middle school. Time is going by so quickly." He said, when I took the box from him. I smirked at him as I opened it and laid the navy uniform on my bed.

"And you're already a third year in high school. You're getting old, oniisan." I teased, starting to push him out of my room.

"I'm not that old, Kaya." He fired back. I laughed as he was outside my room.

"You are." I mocked, sticking my tongue out at him. He opened his mouth to reply, but I shut the door in his face. I clapped my hands together, ignoring the way he was pounding on my door. "Stay out, I'm changing, you perverted old man." I grinned, knowing he wouldn't like that one either. I grabbed the uniform off of my bed and quickly put it on. It fit perfectly and snugly. I searched the box for the tie, the final part of my uniform that was missing. I finally found it, pulled it out, and inspected it. So the girls and the boys wear the same type of tie? I remember brother having one when he went to Rikkai. I shrugged it off and continued to wrap it around my neck and tying it in place.

"Kaya, Kane, what do you two want for breakfast?" yelled mom from downstairs. I jumped at her voice and tore myself away from the mirror.

"Okasan, Kaya said she doesn't want anything to eat!" Kane yelled back. He sounded like he was still outside of my room. I opened my door and glared at him. "Nothing at all." He added under his breath.

"Okasan, _Kane_ doesn't want anything!" I yelled too, rushing down to the kitchen. When I got there, mom was cracking eggs into a bowl.

"I'm making an American meal." She chirped, taking the bowl in her arms and mixing it. I sighed and smiled at her.

"Kaya, you forgot your schoolbag in your room." Kane said, dropping it by my chair as he walked past me. I looked up and followed him until he sat next to me. "Lucky I got it for you."

"I could've gone back to get it." I pointed out, using an obvious tone. "It's just my room."

"Kaya, you look beautiful in your school uniform!" Mom exclaimed, still stirring the eggs. I smiled at her and kicked Kane under the table. "I knew Rikkai would be a good school for you to attend. You're big into tennis, too, Kaya. I heard they have a great tennis team there." Mom looked at Kane, as if telling him to pick up the Rikkai speech. He understood and cleared his throat.

"Oh yes. Rikkai's boys' tennis team has won nationals for three straight years now." Kane added, sliding closer to me. I shrugged and poured me some orange juice, which mom had just put on the table seconds before.

"I can't wait to see." I said, using faux excitement.

"On second glance, the Rikkai uniform matches you." Kane said, putting his finger up to his chin and tapping it. "The navy matches your navy eyes and black hair." He murmured, more to himself than to me. I chugged my OJ and quickly got up. I can't stand having my mom and brother trying to make me like Rikkai before my first day.

"I'm going to school now." I said in a rush. Mom cocked her head to the side and made a pouting face.

"You didn't eat yet." Mom said.

"I'm not feeling hungry." I lied, grabbing my school back and running to my room and get the matching navy jacket to this uniform. "See ya!" I said as I flew out the door. I'm sure it was still early to be going to school, so I'll just take the long way, through the park. I walked down our street, noticing how there weren't any cars driving down this road yet. Maybe it really was early. Too early. I shook my head, oh well. I can always walk slowly.

When I saw the exit for the park, I turned towards it and walked down the shaded path. Trees were beautiful along this short pathway. Ahh, fresh air was nice. I closed my eyes and slowed my walking pace. The air smelled nice too. I kept walking like that, thinking no one was out at this time, however I was wrong. I heard some leaves ruffling and I opened my eyes and looked to the right of me, where the leaves had ruffled.

"Aww, please just stop running." A boyish voice said within the bushes. There was more ruffling and I heard a squeak. I ran over to the bushes. "Ow!" Lead me through the bushes and to a nearby meadow. In the middle of the meadow was a red headed boy, who was rubbing his head vigorously.

"Uhm." I coughed, trying to make him look at me. It worked because his head shot up and his violet eyes met my navy ones. I felt my heart skip a beat, as he stood up, not breaking his gaze from mine. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you deep into the park?" I asked, not knowing what else to say. He broke our contact and he dusted off his dark purple pants and straitening his tie. Wait, his uniform, it belongs to Rikkai.

"Well, um, I was walking around, but I accidentally dropped my cake. This nearby dog started eating it and he took off with the rest." The boy explained. I could tell his voice was cautious, wondering if it was a good idea to tell me. I couldn't help but smile.

"My name is Kaya Toya." I said, taking a few steps near him. He looked at me warily, but eventually smiled back.

"I'm Marui Bunta."


	2. Breakfast Date & Classmate

**Disclaimer: Konomi Takeshi owns Prince of Tennis, I merely own Kaya Toya.**

I really have no clue where this story is going, but for now I'm just writing. When I know, I write more like there is no tomorrow. Well enjoy Chapter 2!

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Marui Bunta. I let this name ring in my head for a while, letting it fully sink in. "You go to school at Rikkai?" I asked, inspecting his uniform a little closer. He must have noticed mine too because he stared, making me feel a bit awkward.

"Yes. I'm a 3rd year." He replied, grabbing his schoolbag and swinging it over his shoulder as he walked closer to me. He's a third year? He's one year older than me, but he seems a bit younger than me. Maybe because he was so cute that it made him look young. "Are you a new student? I've never seen you before, Toya-chan."

"Ah, yes. I just transferred here from Tokyo, so here I am." I said, spreading out my arms as so signify that I was there. He smiled and looked like a little kid. A cute little kid.

"I thought so. May I walk you to school then, Toya-chan?" He asked, making a little bow. I blushed and nodded. When he reached me, he grabbed my arm by the elbow and pulled me lightly through the bushes until we were back on the main path. He released me and we started walking. I tried to keep my eyes on the path and avoid staring at him.

"Thank you for walking with me, Marui-kun." I said.

"Anytime, Toya-chan." He replied. I finally looked up and saw him with his hands behind his head and looking around the park. I felt a blush spread across my face. "Rikkaidai isn't far from here, so we should make it there early."

I rolled my eyes. More with the Rikkai school. "So, uhm, Marui, do you like cake?" I asked, desperate to change the subject. His violet eyes met mine again. His eyes were sad this time. I jumped, thinking maybe it wasn't the best subject change.

"I love cake." Marui said, blowing a bubble of what seemed like green apple bubbled gum. "I'm sad I lost mine today." I looked around and felt sad.

"Maybe after school I could treat you to a cake at a nearby café." I offered. He perked up and smiled at me.

"Really?!" He asked, reminding me of a little kid more and more each moment. I nodded and he stretched out his arms. "You're the best, Toya-chan." He said. We walked in silence for what felt like five minutes. A pretty long time. "Oh! I just remembered!" He turned to me and I cocked my head to the side. "I'm sorry, I can't go with you. I have tennis practice today and I can't miss it." I blinked a couple of times. Tennis? This morning brother said the team won nationals for something like that.

"You're on the tennis team?" I question, realizing it was stupid question after I already asked him. He nodded and pointed his thumb at himself.

"Yup! And I'm good too. I'm a regular." He said, smirking full on. I looked up at the dawning sky.

"What's a regular?" I asked. I don't know anything about tennis, so everything he is saying to me is totally foreign. All I know is that you use rackets to play tennis. "I have no clue about anything about tennis." I added, so he knew.

"Ohh, well, a regular is when you're a regular player and you play whenever your school is playing a match. Kinda like the top players." Marui explained. I nodded and 'Ahh'd at his explanation. I kinda understand it now. "When we play, you should come watch. Then you could see my genius."

Marui seems like he's confident in his skills, I thought, smiling up at him. "Okay, it sounds fun." I chirped. Marui seems to be a really nice person. Maybe my first day won't be as bad as I thought it would be. "I'm glad I ran into Marui." I thought out loud. When he looked down at me with a light pink face, I realized I had said that out loud. I blushed and covered my face. "Bad habit, thinking out loud." I muttered. Then he laughed and put his hand in the air.

"You're cute, Toya-chan." He laughed. I touched my black hair and played with it nervously. I didn't know what else to say. I noticed him take out his phone. Ooh, I want to ask for his number, but is it too early to ask for it? "It's still about forty five minutes until school starts." He said, putting his phone away and kinda making me said. "Did you eat breakfast?" He asked, bringing me to realize my rumbling stomach.

"N-No." I whispered. He smiled and pointed towards a pathway leading outside the park.

"Well, there's a small café this way. It has really good American muffins and scones." He explained. He started walking towards the place, with me trailing behind me. "I didn't really eat either, so I'm still hungry."

"How long have you lived here, Marui?" I asked, looking at his back. He glanced at me and slowed down his walking pace, realizing her was leaving me behind.

"Since I was a child." He responded. "I know where everything is in Kanagawa." He bragged, putting one hand on his hip. I couldn't help but smile. He's conceited, but in the way that's irresistible. Maybe conceited isn't a good way to put it. He's confident, yeah, that's it. "It's this way." He said, once we exited the park. We walked across the street. I noticed there were still only a few people out at this time. He stopped on the sidewalk and looked around. "It should be around here." I blinked and looked at where there were about five or six round tables outside. I'm guessing that was the place. I pulled on his sleeve and pointed towards the tables. "Ah, there it is, thanks, Toya-chan." He said, taking off in that direction. I trotted along beside him.

"How hungry are you, Marui?" I teased, watching him eye the café with sparkling eyes.

"Remember, we can here because you were hungry." Marui replied, opening the door and letting me go in first. Gentlemanly. We walked up to the counter and were greeted by an older teenager with her long brown hair tied back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face.

"Hello, what may I get you?" She asked in a cheery tone. She looked at Marui and smiled. "Ah, Marui, you're back!" She exclaimed, smiling at him. I felt left out. "You were just here yesterday."

"I love this place, so I decided to come back because my friend was hungry." Marui replied, laughing in a silly manner. I smiled when he called me his friend. "But I'll have a cranberry scone." He said. Then he elbowed my lightly.

"I'll have a blueberry muffin." I added. She nodded and put on some gloves as she took out our orders from the display stand. She handed them to me.

"Go sit outside, I'll be there in a minute." Marui said, smiling down at me. I looked between him and the friendly girl. I flinched and walked outside and sat down at the table the farthest away from the café. I put down Marui's score and I started eating my muffin. The muffin was pretty big, it was defiantly going to fill me up. I are about half of the muffin when Marui came walking out of the café. I avoided his gaze as he sat across from me. "So how is it?" He asked, digging in to his scone. I swallowed my mouthful of muffin before answering him.

"It tastes yummy." I said, starting at the table. It had a pretty design on it. It was white and dark green.

"I'm glad you like it. We should walk to school together again, Toya-chan." Marui said. I blinked and finally looked at him. I had just met him and he already wants to walk to school together more? T-That's…

"Okay!" I said, a little too overexcited than I meant it to sound like. He smiled as I finished my muffin. I waited for him to finish his scone.

"Toya-chan, are you a third year?" He asked, taking his last bite of the scone. I shook my head and straightened out my skirt as we remained sitting.

"I'm only a second year." I informed him. His eyes widened.

"No way, you look older."

"That better be a good thing, Marui." I teased, knowing it was. He jumped and put his hands up, like he was trying to defend himself.

"It was, it was, I swear!" He said. I smiled and relaxed in my seat. Then I looked around the small area around the café. It was nice and dainty, the kind of thing I like.

"So are you ready to go?" He asked, taking out his phone again and looking at the time. "But the time we reach school, we'll be on time." He said. I nodded and we both stood up. I have to admit, I feel a bit sad. When we reach school, it'll start and Marui will go to his class and I'll go to mine and since we're in different grades, we probably won't see one another all day. "Are you excited for your first day?" He asked, breaking my thoughts. I rolled my eyes, but he didn't see. Rikkaidai again.

"Uhm, yeah." I uttered, looking at the ground we walked on, I think that signifies that I'm nervous. "I wonder what class I'll be in." I heard myself say. I blinked. I didn't mean to say that, it came out.

"If we get there faster, we'll know." Marui challenged. I looked up and him and grinned.

"Okay then." I replied. Then we both started running. We ran past the coffee shop. Past the manga store. Past the music store. Running with Marui made me looked around the places near Rikkai. Wait, was that a art gallery we just past?

We started huffing when we reached the gates to Rikkai. "I have to admit, I didn't think you would have enough stamina to run all the way." Marui breathed heavily as he talked. I bent down over my knees and laughed. That was actually fun.

"Underestimating me isn't something you want to do." I said, taking deep breaths. He looked at me and made a face.

"Scary." Marui murmured. I smiled at him, finally stopping breathing hard. We both looked up and the long gate and the building inside the gate. Our school. It was so big, I never thought it would be as big as it was. How will I find Marui in this maze? "So, you wanna go in first?" Marui asked, tapping on my shoulder. I looked at him and made a fist and brought it up to my face.

"Yeah." I said. I started walking for the gate. I was acting confident, but that was just a show for Marui. I'm scared. I don't wanna go! The little chibi me in my head was kicking and scream and throwing a big fit. I walked past the gate and blinked. That wasn't as bad as I thought. Then it hit me. Stupid, I just walked into school grounds, I was getting nervous for nothing. I let out a big sigh.

"What's wrong?" Marui asked. I shook me head and gave him an assuring smile. I looked around the school grounds and saw a few students here and there, walking around and talking to one another. I'm glad I found Marui, or else I would be alone here.

"Marui, where do I pick up my class?" I asked, looking back at him. He was inspecting the school ground too.

"I think in the office." He said, after a long pause. We both blinked and looked at one another.

"Duh!" We said in unison. Then we started laughing as we walked towards the building marked 'Office' Marui opened the door for me again.

"You can get your first." I said to him when he walked in.

"You don't wanna gets yours first?" He asked. I shook my head and pushed him over to the counter. The woman behind the counter didn't look up at him.

"Name?" She asked, still looking at a stack of papers.

"Marui Bunta, 3rd year." He said. She ruffled through papers and handed him a paper with his name on it. I looked at it. Class 3-B, 16. He moved behind me and this time he pushed me. Now the lady looked up and her dark eyes met mine.

"T-Toya Kaya, 2nd year." I stuttered, making my nervousness obvious. She ruffled more papers and handed me a paper. It was Marui's turn to look over my shoulder.

"Class 2-D 7." Marui read my paper out loud. "That was my class last year." He said, opening the door for us to leave. "Fukawa-sensei is a pretty cool teacher." Marui added, as I walked past him out the door. "He just kept getting angry at me for falling asleep in class." I smiled at him after he closed the door behind me.

"Well, duh, you're not supposed to sleep during school." I lectured, feeling like my mom. Then I remembered her heartbroken face she had on this morning when I didn't eat her food. I shook my head, trying to get my mom out of my mind. "School is going to start soon, right?" I asked, noticing a lot more students walking around. I spun around to looked at Marui. "Marui, could you show me where my homeroom is?" I asked, trying to postpone to when Marui and I have to leave one another.

"Yeah, I remember where it is." He said, taking the lead again. I blushed when I saw people staring at us. Maybe they were talking about me, the new girl. Or, maybe Marui was popular. Now that I think of it, Marui does seem like the type to be popular. He's kind, cute, and athletic. I studying his red hair and remembered his violet eyes. Yup, he's popular.

"Marui, do you have a girlfriend?" I caught myself asking. I walked faster to where I was walking beside him. He blushed and looked down at me. He opened another door for me and I walked in, but waited for him.

"No, I don't. Currently, Tennis is more important." Marui said. I clapped.

"Do you have a lot of admirers?" I asked. I have no clue why I'm asking these questions. They just popped in my head and I said them before I thought that asking them might be a bad idea. He met my eyes and slowly nodded his head yes. We were now walking down this long hallways filled with kids who looked my age. I caught many girls staring at Marui and it somehow bugged me.

"Marui?"

We both stopped walking and turned around to see a boy with black hair and deep green eyes standing behind us. Marui high fived this boy and smiled at him. "Kirihara, hey." Marui said. So the boy's name was Kirihara huh?

"Marui, what are you doing in the second year hallway? Don't tell me you failed." Kirihara teased, smirking at his sempai.

"No, I'm showing my friend to her classroom." Marui said, signaling for me. Kirihara's eyes fixated on me, making me feel nervous. "Her name is Toya Kaya-chan. Toya, this is Kirihara Akaya." Marui introduced. Kirihara smiled crookedly at me, I smiled back. "What class are you in, Kirihara?" Marui asked. Kirihara took out his paper and handed it to Marui. "2-D 6" Marui handed it back and looked at me. "Whadya know, Kirihara is in the same class and you two will right next to one another." I blinked and Kirihara and I met eyes.

Suddenly the bell rang and everyone started scrambling for their classrooms. Marui jumped and looked around in a hurry.

"Aw, I'm going to be late on my first day!" Marui whined. He turned towards me and smiled. "I'm sorry, but I have to get going. I'll see you later, okay, Toya-chan?" He spun around and took off down the hallway we had just walked down. I watched at he left me.

"You want me to show you to our classroom?" Kirihara asked, looking a little pouty. I jumped, surprised he was actually talking to me. "Do you?" He repeated, making me realize I didn't respond to him yet.

"Ah, yes please." I managed to say. He cracked a smile and lead me to our classroom. We stopped by the door that said 2-D on it. He opened the door and we both walked in together. Our room was filled with boys and girls talking to one another. Kirihara and I found our desks and sat down, right next to one another.

"Toya, did you just transfer here?" He asked, looking at me.

"Yes, I transferred from Tokyo." I replied. His eyes widened as he straightened up.

"What school?" He asked. It appears like he was growing angry. I shrugged it off. I wasn't too sure about telling him, but I did.

"Seigaku."

He opened his mouth to speak, but our teacher came walking in. "Alright students, let's settle down. Our first period is mathematics, so please get your text books our, they should already be in your desk." I dug in my desk and pulled out a green textbook that said 'Mathematics' written across the top. I'm gonna guess this is the book he was talking about. I glanced at Kirihara who was flipping through the pages. My glance turned into a stare. He must've felt it because he looked at me and smiled and waved. I jumped and smiled back. "Before we start, I wish to greet everyone back and I hope everyone has a great year. I am your teacher and my name is Fukawa." The class started talking again about how awesome the year would be and how excited they were. "Now, open your books to the first chapter." I flipped through the book and found chapter one with ease. I took out my purple pencil and absentmindedly started doodling on my scratch paper. I miss Marui, I kept repeated. I wondering what he's doing. I wonder how his class is for him. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Why should I care? I just met him this morning and he was kind enough to show me around a bit. I saw Kirihara make a weird movement and I looked over at him. He pushed a paper to the edge of his desk.

_Are you okay?_ It read. I blinked and looked at him, he was acting like he was paying attention to Fukawa-sensei. I took one of my spare papers and wrote on it then pressed it to the edge of my desk.

_Yeah, I'm sorry. First day, Y'know? Nervous. _I wrote. I saw his green eyes looking for my navy ones, so I gave in and met eyes with him again. We both smiled.

_Good. So, do you understand anything Fukawa-sensei is saying?_

_I think it's something about math. _

He looked at me and smiled. _I never would've known! You're a life saver, Toya._ It was my turn to smile at him.

_I just hope we don't get an assignment on this._ Then right on cue, Fukawa-sensei turned towards the class,

"Class, do numbers one through eleven. I want it by the end of class." He said. I blinked and took out a new piece of paper.

"So much for that." Kirihara whispered. I looked at him and smiled. I looked down at textbook. Oh, this math is so easy! I quickly started doing it.

After I finished, I closed my textbook and glanced at Kirihara, who was tugging at his hair. I smiled at him. So I turned back to my own desk and started doodling again. I was drawing for a while until he called my name with his captivating voice. I looked over at him and he smiled. His black hair was messy and a bit wild. Nothing at all like Marui's hair. I shook my head, why was I so easily distracted by Marui? I had just met him and he had helped me. "Toya, do you understand this math?" Kirihara whisper-asked, handing me his pencil and gently brushing my hand with his. I tried hard not to look into his deep green eyes, but since he was so close to me, I was failing miserably. I knew it, my first day at Rikkai was going to suck. I was captivated by Marui and I think I'm kinda captivated by Kirihara, and I've known him for a shorter time than Marui!

"I should've stayed home." I muttered under my breath. I quickly showed Kirihara how to figure out the problems and he took back his things and smiled to thank me.

"Thank you, Toya." Kirihara whispered, returning to his work. I returned to my doodling. Why am I befriending guys? Most of all, why am I attractive to these guys? I leaned back in my chair and let out a sigh. Don't get me wrong, Marui and Kirihara and great boys, but then again, that's the problem. If I meet another boy, it'll mean trouble.

Suddenly our door opened and a boy with silver hair popped his head in. "Sorry, but could we borrow Kirihara, Fukawa-sensei.?" The boy asked. I blinked and blushed, knowing I was staring at him and his bright blue eyes, but I couldn't help it. Enter, another boy.

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**Okay, that was chapter 2. Tell me what you think about. This one was longer than chapter 1, but oh well. **


	3. Kaya's Boys

**Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi, I merely own Kaya Toya  
I wish to thank you for reading it all the way to chapter 3, I've been working hard trying to get as many chapters up as possible, so thank you very much! ^^**

**Another thing: I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope everyone enjoys this time of the year. ^^**

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Fukawa-sensei dismissed Kirihara quickly. Kirihara stood up and walked out the door with the silver haired boy. I heard some mumbling and whispering from behind me. I strained myself to listen.

"Was that Niou Masaharu-san?"

"Did you see him, he has the most perfect eyes!"

"He's on the tennis team, as a regular, right?"

I blinked and put my pencil up to mouth. Niou Masaharu was his name? Tennis team regular, he's on the same team as Marui!

"He makes me melt!"

"I know, I wish I was lucky enough for him to even notice at me."

"Even a glance from those eyes would sent me into a love frenzy."

I almost fell out of my chair. T-These girls were serious? Talk about major fan girls, they must really, really like this Niou boy. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see a girl with short brown hair and she had the most amazing eyes. The left one was blue and the right one was a darkish blue/purplish color. She was pretty and she was smiling at me. "Can you believe these girls?" She said, clearly amused. I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. She was as amused from all these girls as I was. "It's silly."

"I-I know." I replied, rolling my eyes as more girls gushed. She took her time studying me, which made me feel weird.

"My name is Hanabusa Kaede." She finally said, smiling really big. "Yours?"

"Ah, I'm Toya Kaya." I replied. "Nice to meet you, Hanabusa-chan."

"Oh just call me Hana." She said, waving her hand at me. I nodded. "Anyways, I dislike down so many girls love Niou-sempai." She said, twirling her pencil. I inspected her slowly. Her cheeks were a light pink. Obviously, she liked Niou, but she was scared to show it and she was jealous because so many other girls liked him.

"What's so good about Niou?" I asked, not catching myself saying those words. I jumped and covered my mouth when she went bug eyed. I really hated my habit of saying things that just pop into my mind. I silently cussed in my head as she gave me the weirdest look I've ever seen.

"Wait, Toya, you're new here, right?" She asked, like she was trying to solve a puzzle. I slowly nodded and she took a deep breath. "Okay, good, because if you had asked that and you weren't there would've been something wrong with you." She said, acting like she was okay. "Well, Niou-sempai is sorta a big flirt and he can capture any girls' heart within just a couple of minutes of talking to her. Most girls are already captivated by his turquoise eyes though, which are so damn perfect." I blinked, waiting for more, but she dreamily sighed. Waiting, waiting, waiting…

"Wait, is that all?" I questioned. She looked at me and flicked my forehead. "Ow!" I said. That's not a nice way to start a friendship.

"Just be careful, Toya. I saw you talking to Kirihara. Kirihara is friends with Niou because they are both on the tennis team. Niou is the type who loves it when girls go crazy for him, which makes him even more dangerous." Hana said, starting to shake. "If he sees you with Kirihara, he'll want to make you fall for him and trust me, it's hard not to when he turns on his charm." Hana finished, sighing, as if she was recalling a past memory. I blinked, totally lost. She shook her head and locked eyes with me. "Don't fall for him." Then Hana and I heard a small chuckle coming from our left. The girls who was laughing was sitting behind Kirihara's empty desk. She has long black hair that went to her mid back and her side swept bangs were swept nearly to her right side. Her eyes were a deep moss green, a little brighter than Kirihara's. I rolled my eyes, realizing I was comparing her to Kirihara.

"You can't tell her what to do. Whatever happens, happens." The girl said in a velvet voice. I glanced at Hana, who was making a pouty face. "Hello, my name Kesaki Yamouri. Please just call me Yamouri." She said, smiling at me. I opened my mouth to talk, but was interrupted by our classroom door opening again. The whispering class died down as Kirihara entered the room again. Niou stuck his head in again.

"I'm sorry about that, Fukawa-sensei. I promise to try not to interrupt your class again." Niou said in a captivating voice. I jumped when I saw him scanning the room. When his eyes roamed over me, I felt my body shiver.

"Hey, Kirihara, welcome back." Yamouri chirped, smiling at him now. He turned around and smiled back at her. They know each other? "So tell me, what did Niou talk to you about?" She asked after Niou had closed the door. Kirihara laughed lowly and turned around and faced us. His eyes glanced over mine.

"Niou was just being a trickster, he was asking me to help him with a prank for after school." Kirihara laughed.

"Did you agree to help him?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. He looked back at him. He pulled out a small brown bag.

"Yup." He chuckled. "This is going to be awesome. Fukubuchou won't see it coming."

"No way. A prank on Sanada-sempai?" Yamouri questioned, her smiling spreading more and more. "You two have guts to do that." I was totally confused about who they were talking about, since I was already lost and they seemed to be having a good time, I just faced forward and acted like I was checking my math work. One is defiantly right, so is number two, same with three, ditto with number four…

"Okay class, please hand in your assignment as you walk out the door." Fukawa-sensei said. The class moaned and groaned, meaning they weren't done. The students who were done gave him the paper. I noticed two other students beside Kirihara and I were the first to hand ours in, I also noticed Yamouri hand hers in after Kirihara and I sat down.

"Hey, Toya, do you want to visit Marui's class with me at break?" Kirihara asked, leaning towards me as the other students struggled to hurriedly finish their papers and turn them in. I nearly perked up, but I tried not to make it obvious to him. "We have about twenty minutes of break after this class, so we can do whatever we want."

"Yeah, I'd like that." I replied, smiling. He kept a straight face and it made my smile fade away. Why was he suddenly so serious?

"Toya, are you my friend?" He asked, still not showing any emotion. I blinked. Well, I had just met Kirihara and he didn't seem the kind of person who would ask this kind of question. He was being nice to me, so I guess I would.

"Mhm."

He then started smiling and nodded. "Good, good." He mumbled. Uh, he must have different personalities. He did a 360 degree change. I saw Yamouri pass by and she smirked at me. What was with her?

"Oh, Kiri-kun, how did you finish your math so easily?" Yamouri asked, taking her seat behind him again. Hana tugged on my uniform sleeve. I looked at her roll her eyes. "Kiri, you have gotten so smart!" She complimented. I noticed Kirihara's cheeks turn to a light pink and I, absentmindedly, glared at Yamouri. Then she ruffled his already messy black hair.

"Okay, class, let's get out our English books." Fukawa-sensei said, clapping his hands together. Kirihara whipped his head around and stared, disbelieving at our teacher, who had started writing English words on the board.

"What's wrong, Kirihara?" I asked. He roughly turned his head towards me and I tried not to laugh at his face. "Do you not like English?"

"It's my worst subject. I didn't think we'd have it this early in the morning." Kirihara murmured, barley audible.

"Kirihara, it's just a subject. Since, English is my best subject, I'll help you, okay?" I offered, trying to wipe off that ridiculous face he was making. He blinked. I took out the English book and opened it.

"Really?"

I nodded my head and his face went back to normal.

"Thank you, Toya."

I could feel Yamouri's death glace fixed on me, so I didn't bother to turn around and look. I had to admit, I was scared from just feeling it.

"Now class, for English--" I tuned out Fukawa-sensei's speech about the different words on the board. English was easy, so I didn't really want to pay attention right now. I had other things on my mind. Oh, y'know what, I didn't even say goodbye to Kane this morning. I bet he's hurt by that. I hurt mom and Kane. Good thing dad already left for work or else I might've hurt him too. I'm sorry, Kane, I was just annoyed by how you and mom kept trying to make me like Rikkai despite everything. I guess I was being selfish. But then again, if I hadn't left early, I would've have met Marui and I probably wouldn't be talking to Kirihara, he's probably just be a stranger who sat next to me.

I guess I'm happy for meeting Hana too, although I hardly know her. I can't say I'm glad about meeting Yamouri; I think she already dislikes me. Maybe she has a crush on Kirihara. I sideways glanced at him and noticed that he was trying really hard to pay attention, but it appeared as though he didn't get a word Fukawa-sensei was saying. I couldn't blame Yamouri for having a crush on Kirihara, I mean, his messy black hair looks good on him and his green eyes are adorable and he's sweet, although I still think he has a personality disorder or something like that.

"Now partner up and review the lessons I had just taught you about." Fukawa-sensei's words were sharp, like he meant to break me away from my thoughts. I looked up at him and smiled innocently, though I doubt he saw. He went towards his small desk in the corner and sat down. I looked around the classroom and saw students were already paired.

"Kiri, do you want to--"

"Toya, please be my partner." Kirihara begged. I smirked at Yamouri. I don't think he had any idea that Yamouri was asking him to be her partner.

"Of course I'll be your partner, Kirihara." I replied. His face brighten and he brought his chair over to my desk and saw by me. I heard Hana grumble:

"I didn't want to be your partner either, Yamouri."

I felt bad for Hana because she was left with partnering up with Yamouri, who wanted to be with Kirihara, but he wanted to be with me. So, I win.

"So what's this about the compound word? I also have no clue what an adjective is." Kirihara said. Wooow, he must be bad at English to not understand these, but I guess it's okay. I explained them to him and he nodded, so I think he understood how I was explaining them as. "I think I understand it." He said, counting on his fingers.

"They're really aren't as difficult once you understand them." I said, blushing a little and I have no clue why I did that. I was going to ask him to repeat them to me, to make sure he really understood them but Fukawa-sensei interrupted me. I really need to started talking faster.

"Okay, class, we'll take a twenty minute break, so after this, let's meet in the music room." Fukawa-sensei announced the class scrambled to do whatever they wanted to do. Kirihara grabbed my hand as he stood up.

"Let's go, Toya." Kirihara said. He sounded really excited to go see Marui. I blushed as he pulled out of the classroom in a hurry; but not before I saw Yamouri watching me out the door. "I can't wait to talk about the prank with Niou." Kirihara said, releasing my hand so I could walk beside him in the halls. "Marui and Niou have the same classroom." He explained. Niou. The same Niou from this morning? The one so many girls were falling all over? Aw, man.

"Kirihara, if you don't mind me asking, how do you know Marui-kun and Niou-kun?" I asked, watching where I was going in the halls. I had noticed we were almost at the end of the hall and there were the stairways.

"Marui told you he was a regular on the tennis team, right?" Kirihara asked. I remembered this morning. He had told me he was a regular, oh yeah. I looked up at him and nodded. "Well, I'm a regular too, and so is Niou. So we're on the same team together."

"Wow, Kirihara is a regular and he's only a second year." I said, practically repeating that he had just said.

"Yup and I'm the only second year regular." He said proudly. We had reached the stairs and we started walking down them, passing first and other second year students walking up the stairs. "You should come watch one of our games, Toya." Kirihara said. I smiled. That's the same thing Marui said to me this morning.

"Ah, Kirihara-kun!"

We both stopped and turned around and saw a second year girl running towards us. Did she follow us the whole way to the third year hallway? Kirihara turned around to greet her. When she reached us I saw that she had a small bag with a ribbon tied around it.

"Um, here, Kirihara-kun, I baked these for you this morning." The girl said, handing him the light blue bag and bowing. "I hope you enjoy them." She said, before running off.

"Thank you." He called after her. He turned back to me and we continued walking.

"Kirihara, who was that?" I asked, looking over my shoulder and still seeing her running away from us. He shrugged and looked at the bag.

"I don't know her name, but I've seen her around." He said. I blinked and snatched the bag away from him. "Hey."

"You don't even know her name and she baked these for you to eat." I huffed. "I would be offended if that happened to me."

"But it won't. I know you, Toya." He said, smiling and clearly misunderstanding what I was talking about. I didn't feel like explaining to the clueless boy so I handed the bag back to him. He licked his lips and smelled it. "I wonder what kind they are." He thought out loud. I sighed and tried not to be mad at him again, because, despite everything, he is a boy and boys don't understand girls. I have to remember that.

"Kirihara, do you have a lot of admirers?' I questioned. He put his bag down against his pants and looked down at me.

"Somewhat." He replied. "But most of the tennis regulars do." My heart sank and I thought about that last part. I could tell Niou did. From what I witnessed, Kirihara did too and this morning Marui said he had a ton of admirers. I wonder who the other members of the tennis team where. I want to meet them, but I sure hope they aren't as interesting as Marui and Kirihara. "Here we are." Kirihara said, showing me the door to class 3-B. He opened the door and we both walked in together.

"Toya, Kirihara!" Marui's voice was instant. I looked around for his bright red hair and quickly found it, but I noticed silver hair, standing by his desk. Niou was staring up at us and when I looked at him, he looked at me. I blushed and looked away. Regardless, Kirihara and I walked over to them and they all high fived one another. "I was wondering when you two would show up!" Marui met my eyes and he smiled. "How's your first day, Toya-chan?" He asked, sounding excited and happy Kirihara and I were there.

"It's good. I'm enjoying it." for the most part, I thought the last part to myself. Kirihara put his hand on Marui's desk.

"Toya is really smart. She helped me with math and English." Kirihara said, setting down his cookies on Marui's desk. Niou messed with Kirihara's hair. Kirihara slapped Niou's hands away. I remembered how he had let Yamouri mess with his hair a while back and I didn't feel so good.

"Anybody is smarter than you, Kirihara." Niou teased. Marui laughed, and I heard Kirihara making weird noises towards his sempai, but I was too caught up in staring at Niou, again. Urgh. "Puri."

Marui looked up at me and snapped his fingers. I jumped, startled to be taken out of my thoughts again. "I forgot to introduce you two." Marui said, looking between me and Niou. "Toya, this is Niou Masaharu." I looked up at him and I smiled. "Niou, this is Toya Kaya." It was Niou's turn to smile at me.

"Ah, so this is the girl you walked to school with this morning, Marui." Niou said. "You're lucky. I would've liked to walk to school with such a beautiful girl." I jumped and broke my own gaze this time. Okay, I have to admit, I was liking his smooth talk so far and Hana was right about him. I can easily see why so many girls threw themselves at him. "So why did you transfer her, Toya?" Niou asked, leaning closer, showing he was honestly curious.

"My dad got a job here." I simply replied.

"Oh yeah, and get this, Toya transferred here from Seigaku!" Kirihara added. Marui made a weird noise and looked up at me.

"No way." He uttered.

"Seigaku, huh?" Niou repeated, more to himself than to make sure he heard Kirihara correctly. I nodded slowly, wondering how they knew Seigaku. Well, I heard Seigaku had a good tennis team, but I was never really into sports. "Oh, Kirihara, we better start discussing our prank."

"Oh yeah!" Kirihara replied, taking out a piece of paper and sitting down in the empty seat by Marui. Kirihara grabbed the bag of cookies and opened it. "Do you guys want any?" He asked. Niou took the bag and took about three, then he passed it to Marui, who took a handful and passed it to me. I only took one and handed it back to Kirihara.

"Another admirer?" Niou asked, taking a bite from one of his cookies. Kirihara nodded and ate some. "And it's only the first day." Then Niou reached into the desk behind Marui and pulled out three bags just like Kirihara's. I blinked and almost choked on my cookie. I started coughing and the boys laughed at me. After I was done, I smiled my sarcastic thanks to them.

"Niou, you always get a lot." Marui pouted.

"Marui, why are you complaining? You got one, too." Niou said, pulling out a red bag that had Marui's name written on it. I stopped chewing and threw my cookie and Niou without even know. Marui looked at me and gave me the kind of smile a little kid gives his mom when he gets caught.

"What was that, Toya?" Niou asked, laughing. He picked up the cookie I had accidentally thrown at him and threw it back just right so it would land perfectly in my lap. I tried to ignore Marui's sorry eyes. Why was he acting so sorry? We were friends. Friends. "Anyways, Kirihara, I was thinking we could do it after practice because then Sanada won't see it coming." Niou said, happily. I took another bite of the cookie and watched Niou. He was talking so smoothly and his turquoise eyes seemed to glow with his happiness. When he was done talking , I heard Kirihara pick up, but Niou looked up and into my eyes. He winked and I blushed and looked at my lap and ate the rest of my cookie in silence. A big flirt was right.

"Toya," Marui whispered. I looked over at him, but not into his eyes. "I can ditch tennis practice, so are you still willing to treat me to a cake after school?" He asked.

"Yeah, I can." I said, before thinking things through. I wanted to hit myself for answering so quickly. He smiled and I returned it.

"Where are you two going?" Niou asked. Marui jumped and turned to face Niou.

"Nowhere." Marui said in a rush.

"I wanna go." Kirihara added, poking at Marui. He then turned towards Niou. "They're going for cake after school." Marui made a face.

"No fair, Marui. Trying to hog her all to yourself." Niou accused, this time he was the one throwing the cookie, but it hit Marui's head. "I'm going too."

"I'll be ditching practice. If you two come, you'll miss your chance to prank fukubuchou." Marui countered. Marui was blushing from Niou's last comment. I didn't know what to say in the middle of this conversation, so I figure being quite is the best thing. Niou and Kirihara exchanged glances.

"Dang, you're right, Marui." Niou said, slamming his fist down on the desk. "Lucky." Kirihara stood up and turned towards me.

"Well, are you ready to go back to class? Our break is almost over." Kirihara said. I nodded and stood up. I dusted off my dress and smiled at Marui, and avoided Niou's eyes as I smiled at him too.

"Toya, do you want to eat lunch together?" Marui asked as Kirihara and I were walking towards the door. I spun around and blushed.

"Of course." I smiled.

"I'll meet you in front of the infirmary then." He called.

"Okay, see you at lunch." I replied, waving as Kirihara closed the door. We both started walking back. "Where's the infirmary?" I asked, now that we were away from their classroom. Kirihara laughed and put his hand on my shoulder.

"I'll show you, but that means I'll be eating with you two." Kirihara said. Then he mumbled something under his breath, something like, "I won't let him have you all alone." Or something. I shrugged it off, because I doubt Kirihara would say something like that, right?

We forgot we had to go to the music room, so Kirihara and I were late for class because we went to our homeroom before realizing it was it was in the music room. For period three, we had music. Period four was our history class, which I despised, but I had to take it. I was actually looking forward to lunch with Marui and Kirihara and after school I'd be going our for cake with Marui. Well, my feelings are mixed about that part. He's a friend, I kept repeating in my head. We're just friends going out to get something to eat.

"Thank you all for working hard. Now it is lunch time, so make sure everyone eats." Fukawa-sensei said, clapping his hands together. I put my pencil down and tried to relaxed, but I felt brain-dead. History was the worst.

"What are you doing for lunch?" Yamouri asked, taking out her box lunch. I watched as she unfolded it and open it.

"I'm having lunch with Marui and Kirihara." I replied, anxious to see her reaction. She simply nodded.

"Oh, well that sounds fun." She plainly said, then she turned towards Hana, who was eating a bento. "Hana, you wanna eat with me?" Hana made a face.

"Why me?"

"We're both eating alone, so let's eat together." Yamouri logically replied. Hana thought about it and figured she was right, so she moved over to sit by them. "Next time, you can eat with us also, Toya." Yamouri said, stuffing her face with noodles. I smiled. This annoying flirt wasn't so annoying.

"Are you ready?" Kirihara asked, tapping on my shoulder. I looked up at him and nodded. I stood up and we walked out of the room and back down the halls. "We're making a stop to pick up a school meal."

"You eat a school meal?" I asked, taken back, not very many people I know eat a school lunch. He looked down at me and nodded.

"I'm guessing you do too, seeing as how you didn't bring any food from home." He replied. I jumped and noticed for the first time that I had forgotten my lunch at home. Aw, man! I'm so sorry, mom!

"I-I didn't bring any money…" I whispered. Kirihara patted my back and pointed towards the school store, which was already so close.

"I'll buy you your meal today." He said as we got in line. I looked up at him and smiled. "It's not big deal. They aren't that expensive." He shrugged. Before I knew it, I was hugging him.

"Thank you, Kirihara!" I squealed, feeling myself blush from thankfulness. He hugged me back for a while. Then I noticed other girls looking at glaring, so I figured pulling away now would be best, so that's what I did. There weren't many people in line, so we were ready to order pretty quickly. "I'll have the large yakiniku set." Kirihara ordered.

"Um, I'll have the eel sushi set." I said, saying whatever my eyes found and that was the first thing. The lady handed us our meals and Kirihara paid for it. "Thank you so much, Kirihara." I said as we walked away.

"Anytime." Kirihara replied, smiling. Marui said the exact same thing to me this morning after he bought me breakfast. Were boys at Rikkaidai similar? "Now, to the infirmary." He said, both of us walking down the stairs. I saw boys pointing at Kirihara and I as we past them. I wonder what they were talking about. I tightened my grip on my eel sushi meal.

We walked outside and Kirihara pointed towards the building in the right corner. It was standing alone and behind it was a meadow with tons of trees that I noticed many students eating lunch under those trees. "That's the infirmary." Kirihara said. "It's good to know where it is, for future reference." Kirihara explained.

"I doubt I'll ever need to go, I hardly ever get hurt." I said, overly confident.

"I think you just jinxed yourself." Kirihara teased. I gasped and realized I probably had just jinxed myself. As we neared the infirmary, I saw Marui standing by it with…

"There they are." Niou said, pointing at us. Marui turned and smiling at me. Then he faced Niou again and started pushing him.

"I didn't want you to come." Marui said. He probably thought that we were out of ear shot, but I heard that clearly. "Go."

"Kirihara is here, what's the big deal?" Niou asked, acting like he didn't understand, but it was obvious he did. Kirihara and I stopped when we reached them and Marui turned around, knowing he missed his chance in making Niou go away now. "What did you get, Toya?" I looked down at my meal.

"Eel sushi set." I replied cautiously.

"Oh that sounds good. You like the school meals?" Marui asked. I shrugged and pointing towards Kirihara.

"Actually, I forgot my bento at home, so Kirihara bought me this." I said, smiling and thanking Kirihara once again. He replied with a nod.

"That was nice of Kirihara." Niou said, looking between Kirihara and me. Niou smirked and Marui signaled towards the meadow.

"Let's go find a place to eat, then." Marui said, turning around with Kirihara following behind him. I was at the back of the group along with Niou. Marui and Kirihara had started talking. Niou bent down to me and whispered:

"Toya, be careful around these tennis boys."

I looked up and blinked at him. "I know how to take care of myself." I hissed. "Besides aren't you a tennis boy, too?" I challenged. He recoiled and smirked.

"Marui, Kirihara." Niou said. We stopped walking as they turned around. Niou wrapped his arm around me, making me flinch and wonder what the heck he was doing. He pulled me closer to him and he watched as Kirihara and Marui started complaining about him holding me too close. It was a bit annoying. I pushed Niou away and looked him dead in the eyes, oh wait, I forgot that his eyes capture and.. too late, I'm captured. Suddenly Marui pulled me away from Niou and Kirihara crossed her arms, signifying her was annoyed by his upperclassman.

"Let's go eat, Toya." Marui said, pulling me away from Niou. Weren't Marui and Kirihara showing signs of jealousy? Is Niou onto something? I shook my head and noticed Niou waving bye to me. I wanted to punch him right now. "Sorry about that, Toya, but I guess I should've told you that Niou likes to flirt with girls."

"Just ignore him next time." Kirihara added. I slowly nodded as I relaxed as Marui continued to pull me. "I think he'll behave around you, seeing has how Marui and I are friends with you."

But I don't think I want him to behave around me. He was interesting too. Sure, I wanted to punch him, but there was a part of me that wanted to hold him close too. I blushed as I realized what I was thinking.

First, Marui, then Kirihara, and now Niou. Five things they had in common: they were boys, they went to Rikkai, they were tennis players, tons of girls loved them, and they all had my attention. I still don't know if that's a good thing or bad, but right now, it's bad.

* * *

**That was chapter 3, feel free to tell me what you thought of it! && I hope I made Marui, Kirihara, and Niou somewhat in character. Well, thank you ^^  
And it seems these chapters get longer and longer. -_-;;**


	4. Cooking Class

Disclaimer: Konomi Takeshi owns, I only own Kaya Toya and her family. Whoo!

Well, here is chapter 4, I've been distracted so this was like, one day late XD, but thanks for reading!

* * *

"Let's go eat under that tree over there." Marui said, pointing towards one of the couple of trees in the meadow. I don't think he knew that he was still holding my hand, but oh well, I didn't want to remind him anyways.

"Marui, Kirihara, I'm glad I caught you guys." A manly voice said from behind us. I jumped, a bit startled to find an aggressive looking boy with dark hair and dark eyes approaching us. "Practice for today is cancelled due to Yukimura's checkup." The manly boy said. I blinked and felt a bit intimidated.

"Ahh~" Kirihara complained. I knew he was bummed about not pranking that one person, but maybe next time, I guess. "But, fukubuchou," I jumped. So _this _boy is the one they were supposed to prank. I looked up at how he towered over me. No way they could prank him and he looked so stoic.

"Yukimura-buchou's orders." The boy huffed. Kirihara backed off and Marui released my hand, noticing how the boy was looking down at me. I jumped. "My name is Sanada Genichirou." He greeted, softening up just a little bit.

"I'm Toya Kaya." I said, trying not to look into his piercing eyes. "Pleased to meet you, Sanada." I said, ducking down. He nodded and walked away. I was left with a question mark on my face.

"That was our vice captain on the tennis team." Marui said, signaling for Sanada's back. I nodded slowly. "Anyways, since practice is cancelled, we can go on our cake date without me worrying about ditching practice!" Marui cheered. We finally found a spot by a tree and we all sat down and started eating our lunch.

"You better not tell Niou because he'll want to come along too." Kirihara pointed out. "He'll probably think of you two after fukubuchou tells him there is no practice." I noticed Marui jump and he looked around, as if he was looking for Niou.

"Don't tell him, Kirihara!" Marui whispered as loud as he could. I giggled and watched the two whisper back and worth.

"Marui, you're in the same class as Niou, I think you should be the one to watch out." Kirihara replied, with an obvious look on his face.

"Oh yeah…" Marui admitted.

"Marui, where is the café at, anyways?" I asked, putting down my lunch and touching my black hair. "Is it sorta far from the school?" Marui and Kirihara both looked at me with their faces stuffed with food. I tried hard not to laugh at their ridiculous faces.

"No, it's pretty close, it's around the area we where at this morning." Marui said. I thought back about the small breakfast café Marui had taken me to earlier. It was kinda like a shopping area, but I guess it was an eating area. "Why, Toya?" He asked. I blinked and shook my head.

"You two, call me Kaya." I said.

"What, why?" Kirihara asked in his adorable voice. I shrugged as I threw one of my sushi into my mouth.

"Toya is what everyone calls my family. I prefer my own name." I simply replied. "Anyways, Kirihara, Marui, do you two have any siblings?" I asked, plopping another sushi into my mouth. Kirihara and Marui exchanged glances.

"I have one older sister." Kirihara replied.

"I have two younger brothers." Marui added. I nodded and mentally took down these notes about my new friends.

"What about you?" Kirihara asked, leaning closer to me. I saw Marui sideways glance at him. I smiled and though back of Kane.

"One older brother." I replied, happily. I loved my brother, after all.

"What his name?" Marui asked, still eyeing Kirihara.

"Kane Toya." I said cautiously. "He used to go to school here, but I don't think you'd remember him. I mean, he was a third year when you were in your final year of elementary school." Marui and Kirihara looked at one another again.

"Kane Toya, huh?" Marui repeated.

"No wonder your name was so familiar." Kirihara said, nodding his head up and down while he crossed his arms. I cocked my head to the side. "Lemme guess, last year Kane used to visit our school a lot?" I jumped and remembered how Kane would come home late and said he was visiting Rikkai.

"Yeah, I guess he did…" I muttered, in a bit of shock. "How did you two know that?" I questioned.

"Yukimura-buchou and Kane are friends. He used to visit Yukimura at tennis practice." Marui explained. "We always used to wonder who he was, but Yukimura just told us his name. Apparently he was big into tennis when he was in his first and third year in middle school, isn't that correct?" I nodded, slowly, taken back by their information of my brother. "Well, Yukimura played him when Kane went to Seigaku or something even though our captain was still young at the time." Marui shrugged.

"You two do kinda look alike. Black hair and your eyes are the same, but his was a maroon color and yours is navy." Kirihara added, pointing at my hand that was still holding my hair. I jumped and released it.

"Why did your brother quit tennis?" Marui asked, bringing back the original subject. I sighed and looked at him with tired eyes.

"Long story short: he broke his wrist badly." I said in a rush. I didn't feel like explaining how it was also my fault why he broke his wrist, so I left that little detail out..

"Oh, well that's too bad." Kirihara said. I nodded and laid down on the grass. It felt nice to get some fresh air. I heard some giggling and I turned my head back more and saw an upside down Niou with a group of girls all around him. Urgh. Player.

I kept laying there while Marui and Kirihara picked up another conversation. I looked up at the sky and thought about brother. I'm sorry I didn't wish you luck at school, I thought to him. I sighed and took out my phone, which was cozily tucked into my school uniform. I opened it. One new message. I checked it.

**From Kane:  
Kaya, are you stupid or something?! Leaving before eating, you'll be starving! Seriously, you need to start taking better care of yourself. Anyways… good luck on your first day.**

I smiled. A brother's love, right?

"Hey, Kaya, can I have your phone number?" Kirihara asked. I sat up and looked at him. Both Kirihara and Marui's food was all gone. Boys sure eat fast.

"Oh, sure, Kirihara." I said. He took out his phone and I handed him mine. I saw Marui flash a face of jealousy. "You want it too, Marui?" I asked, but it was more like, I blurted. His violet eyes met my navy ones and he nodded. He took my phone from Kirihara when he was done.

"You text, right?" Kirihara asked, messing with his own phone.

"Yup!" I replied a little too happy. Marui threw my phone at me and I caught it perfectly. I put it back in my uniform pocket. Suddenly the school bell rang and all the students around us started getting up and walking towards our school. "Is lunch over already?" I asked, complaining a little.

"That went by fast." Marui said, standing up and holding his hand down for me. I picked up my meal and took his hand. He lifted me with ease. "You ready? Only two more classes before our date." He whispered. I smiled and him.

"Yeah." I uttered. Kirihara tugged my uniform sleeve and I looked away from Marui and at Kirihara.

"Let's get going to class then. I think we have cooking next." Kirihara said. I jumped and clapped.

"Yay, cooking!" I cheered. Kirihara started off without me. "Ah, Kiri!" I found myself calling him the nickname Yamouri had given him. I turned back towards Marui. "I'll see you later, Marui." I said, running off. He waved as I trailed after Kirihara. "Why are you in such a hurry?" I asked when I caught up to him. He looked down at me. We passed a trash can and he dumped our food.

"I want to hurry to class. We were already late once today." Kirihara replied with a good answer. I smiled and nodded at him. When we reached our room, I think we were early because barely anyone was in the room. Kirihara and I took our seats and thankfully, Hana was still there, but so was Yamouri. I turned around and smiled at Hana, who was staring off into space.

"Hana, how was lunch?" I asked. I broke her gaze as she carefully looked at me. Maybe she thought I was someone else because when she saw me she smiled big.

"Ah, Toya!" She sang. "Lunch was pretty fun." Then she leaned closer to me. "Yamouri isn't as mean as she seems, she's actually pretty cool." Then she back away. I blinked. Yamouri isn't that mean? That's not something my brain doesn't want to think about.

"Kiri, did you enjoy your lunch?" Yamouri's velvet voice asked. I looked at her. She was leaning over, tapping on Kirihara's shoulder. I blinked back my rage. He looked back at her and turned around.

"It was fun, well except for that flirt, Niou." Kirihara said. I jumped and blushed, remembering how Niou had put his arm around me and how Kirihara and Marui were acting jealous because of that. "Oh and fukubuchou said there is no practice today, Yay." I smiled as Kirihara acted like a little kid. "Oh and Marui and Kaya are going on a cake date." Kirihara added the last part when he looked at me. I jumped and covered my blush by putting my hand in front of my face.

"Whaaat?" Yamouri asked, half laughing. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Toya, is that true?" Hana asked, right beside me. I managed to nodded with my face still covered. Didn't Marui tell Kirihara not to tell anyone? Or did the not telling thing just apply to Niou? I looked through my fingers at Yamouri. She was now looking at her nails with a small blush on her face. Why was she blushing? Didn't she like Kirihara?

"Call her Kaya." Kirihara said. I removed my hand and nodded.

"Yes, please. I dislike when people call me Toya." I said. Hana and Yamouri just stared.. More staring.. "Thank you…?"

"Of course!" Hana cheered. "Since we're doing this, call me Kaede." She said the last part happily. I blinked and looked at Yamouri. She simply shrugged.

"Everyone already calls me by my first name." She said, returning to looking at her nails. I rolled my eyes at her and noticed all the students piling into the room. "Hey, Kaede, what class is next?" Yamouri asked, still concentrating. Kaede pulled out her paper from this morning and looking at it.

"I think we have… home economics." Kaede replied. She put the paper away and Yamouri smiled an honest smile. She looked more pretty now.

"Yes, I love cooking." Yamouri squealed, showing a bit of fangirlism. "Oh and Kaya, I hope you have fun on your cake date with Marui." She said after a while. Kirihara looked back at her with a confused look on his face. "Kirihara and I are going out after school too." Then she smirked and I saw Kirihara's face drop.

"R-Really?" I questioned. I can't picture them together, but…

"Huh?" Kirihara asked, with ton of astonishment in his voice. She looked at him and slowly nodded, a bit intimidating. "O-Oh yeah…" He finally said. I looked at Kaede who just shrugged.

"Okay, class, let's get going to the home economics room." Fukawa-sensei announced. I quickly turned forwards and saw Kirihara and Yamouri talking about something, but they were talking too lowly for me to hear. Fukawa-sensei gathered his things and walked out the door with our class following him. I got up and started walking with Kirihara, but Kaede pulled me towards her. I looked at her with a confused look.

"What?" I asked. I noticed that I sounded angry. I jumped when her mismatched eyes read sad. "Sorry." I murmured, under my breath. She shook her head, as if saying it was okay.

"Kaya, are you worried about the date between Yamouri and Kiri?" She asked. I jumped, wondering how she got that idea. I also noticed Yamouri's nickname, I guess it rubbed off on her when they were at lunch.

"No, I think it's good that they are going out." I replied, with a little shrug. I saw Kirihara and Yamouri walking and talking together. I had to admit, it _did _kind of annoy me.

"Kaya, you naïve girl. She just said that to make you jealous. They aren't really going on a date." Kaede said, playfully hitting my arm. I looked at her. "Kaya, you are soooo slow." She said with a smile. "Yamouri likes Marui."

I jumped and felt my heart sink. So that's who she really likes.

"Lemme guess, you like Marui too." She said, shrugging like it was obvious. I stared at her unbelieving. "I could tell by the way Kiri and you talk, plus, when I said that you looked hurt."

"Kaede, wha--?"

"I'm too observant." She said like it was nothing. I blinked and shook my head.

"I don't like Marui." I found myself saying. Her mismatched eyes studied me for a long time and I tried hard to keep my face straight. "We're only friends."

"Okay then, Kaya." She replied. She didn't sound too convinced, but I didn't want to go on with this topic. "Anyways, I'm not looking forwards for cooking." She said. "I suck at it. We're probably gonna have to have partners, so do you want to be partners?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." I replied. "I love your eyes." I blurted. I blushed when I realized what I said. She laughed and almost ran into the wall in the hallway. Some of our class mates turned around and looked at her.

"Thanks, Kaya." She said, her laughter dying down. "I get that a lot, but I just wish my eyes could simply be purple." She said, pointing at her right eye.

"Kaede, I told you, the blue and purple balance out perfectly." Yamouri said, walking backwards as she watched us. Her hands were behind her head. Kirihara was still walking, but he didn't bother turning around. "It compliments your brown hair too." Yamouri smiled genuinely.

"Maybe that's why someone likes you." Kirihara said. I looked at Kaede who blushed and quickly turned her head for the ground. "I guess all those time you went to cram school paid off, neh, Kaede." He asked. I blinked and looked down at Kaede.

"S-Shut up, Kiri."

I looked between them. Kirihara and Kaede also seem pretty close. "How do all three of you know one another?" I asked. Kirihara finally looked over his shoulder at me.

"I had class with Yamouri last year and Kaede occasionally had class with us, whenever we had class with her class." Kirihara explained.

"Okay class, here we are, now when we go inside, I want two to a table. Whoever you share a table with, they will be your partner." Fukawa-sensei said. We all stopped and waited outside the door that said, Home Economics. He held up a piece of paper. "I have assigned everyone partners." The class groaned and complained. I looked at Kaede, who was now pale. He opened the door and we all walked into. Fukawa-sensei taped the paper with our partners on the front board and our whole class gathered around it. I was being pushed around, so I decided to wait at the back until the front cleared up. I saw Kirihara emerge from the group. He was talking to a girl I never saw before, but apparently, she's in our class.

"Hey, Kaya, you're my partner, so get over here."

I jumped and felt Yamouri's arm pull me towards a table at the back of the room. Aw, no way, Yamouri is my partner?! "Are you sure you're my partner, Yamouri?" I asked, when we reached our table. She glared at me with her beautiful green eyes.

"I'm positive." She hissed. She threw an apron at me. "Put this on."

"I _know_ how to cook." I growled, tying it around my waist. She rolled her eyes. This girl is starting to annoy me more and more.

"Okay, class, for today, all I want for you to make is deviled eggs. An American dish." Fukawa-sensei said. "It should be simple enough, but if you need help, there are cookbooks under the table. It's on page 57." He said, writing the assignment on the board. "You may start now." Everyone started making noises as they started.

"I'll get the eggs, just start boiling the water." Yamouri said, walking off towards the many refrigerators in the very back of the room. I didn't want to take her orders, but I knew I had to boil the water anyways. So I grabbed one of the pans out of the cabinet over the oven and filled it with water. Then I heated the stove to medium and Yamouri came back.

She gently put the eggs in the water and we put it on the stove. "It takes about thirty minutes to boil the eggs, so we'll have about ten minutes after to finish them up." I said. She nodded.

"We're going to add pickles right?" Yamouri asked, as I opened the spices cabinet. I didn't turn to face her, but she sounding like she was pleading.

"Pickles?" I repeated. I can't really picture adding pickles into deviled eggs. "I never added them in before. I just always add dill weed." I found the paprika and set it on the counter. I turned around and saw her holding a jar of pickles. "No way." I said.

"It's bomb with pickles." She said, sticking out her tongue. "I'm going to cut them." She set it one the counter and opened the jar.

"You two are adding pickles?" Kirihara asked, leaning over our table and work area. "Can you do that?" I noticed that his female partner had black hair with her bangs covering her face a bit. She looked shy. "Hey, hey, Inoue, let's add pickles." Kirihara said, turning towards his partner, Inoue.

"But, Kirihara-kun, I think we should just stick to the recipe." She said in a petite voice. She held up the cookbook. "It just says to add dill weed. It's basically the same as pickles."

"Aww, but Inoue…" Kirihara sounded and looked like a sad little kid. I giggled, but quickly turned around to look away from him. "Okay, well, I guess we better." He turned back to his area, right in front of ours.

"Kaya, is the knife by you?" Yamouri asked. I looked down and saw the knife drawer under me. I reached down and pulled one out and handed it to her. "So, are you excited for your date with Marui?" She asked, cutting the pickles. I blinked and turned to her. _Yamouri likes Marui._

"It's not really a date." I said stiffly. I wanted to please Yamouri for some weird reason. I sure as heck didn't want to make her my enemy. "We're just going to buy some cake."

"Marui loves cake." Yamouri whispered, but I was able to hear her.

"Um, Toya-chan, can we use your dill weed? Kirihara-kun and I can't find any." Inoue asked, leaning over our table. Her bangs were dangling over he face, hiding her dark eyes.

"Yeah, sure." I said, taking out the dill weed and handing it to her. "You two can just keep it."

"A-Are you sure?" She asked, handing it over to Kirihara who poured it into a bowl. I nodded and turned back towards Yamouri's back. Her long black hair was falling over he face while she was cutting.

"Do you need a hair tie?" I asked, taking off the black one on my wrist. She turned and took it when I handed it to her. "These eggs are boiling slow." I muttered, checking them once in a while. "I'm going to turn them up, Yamouri." I said. I brought up the dial to high and leaned against the counter again.

There were loud popping noises that startled me. I jumped and screamed from shock.

"Kirihara, Inoue! Weren't you two watching your eggs?" Fukawa-sensei asked, running over to their table and turning off the stove. There was another loud popping noise and the whole class turned to face Kirihara. "You two put your eggs on high. The eggs dried and popped." He explained. Kirihara and Inoue were looking like sad little kids as Fukawa-sensei scolded them.

"Anyways, that scared me." Yamouri said, tapping on the shoulder. I smiled and agreed with her. "Oh and the pickles are finished." I looked past her and saw the pickles perfectly cut into small pieces.

"Wow, that was fast, Yamouri!" I exclaimed. She stroked her black hair in the ponytail and she looked embarrassed. "How did you do that?"

"I have two younger siblings, my parents always work." She shrugged. She walked past me and put the knife away. "I'm also the head of the cooking club."

"You are?" I questioned. "You don't seem like the chief type."

"Idiot, didn't you just see the pickles I cut?" She grinded her teeth and lightly hit my arm. I smiled and nodded.

"Oh right, right, sorry."

"You two failed the assignment for today." Fukawa-sensei said. We looked back at them and it looked like Inoue had started crying. "Well, since it's the first day, you get thirty points deducted; just don't let it happen again." Then he walked back to the front of the class. Inoue wiped her eyes. I turned around and saw that our eggs were boiling.

"Yamouri, our eggs are boiling." I told her, turning off the stove and pouring the hot water into the sink.

"I'll do the rest, I think you should comfort Kirihara and Inoue." Yamouri said, hipping me out of the way. I tried to glare at her, but I guess I shouldn't since she was thinking about Kirihara and Inoue.

"Um, hey, how are you guys?" I asked lamely. Kirihara looked up at me.

"Yeah, I guess. At least we didn't fail." He said, trying to smile. I blushed and quickly looked at Inoue.

"I knew I should've checked the eggs." Inoue whispered.

"Inoue, it isn't your fault." I said. We all stood there in silence for a while, we heard the other groups using their knifes to cut the eggs and some random talking.

"Anyways, Inoue, I'll take your apron." Kirihara said, removing his. He held his hand out and she handed him hers. He hung both of theirs up and turned back to me. "Thanks for talking to us, Kaya. You can return to your food now." He said, smiling.

"No need, it's already all done." Yamouri said. She put her hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw the deviled eggs neatly laid out on a plate. I gasped and reached out to touch them, but Yamouri slapped my hand down. "Fukawa-sensei, we're finished over here." Yamouri said, using her sweet voice. He walked over to our table and looked at them.

"Well, they sure do look lovely, may I try one?" He asked.

"Go right ahead." Yamouri answered with pride. He took one and plopped it in his mouth. He chewed and I looked back at Kirihara's drooling mouth. I smiled.

"There's are really delicious. Good job, Yamouri, Kaya. You get one hundred points." Fukawa-sensei said, writing on his notepad and he started walking off. "You may do what you wish with the rest."

"Yamouri, I'm going to try one!" I hurriedly said, before Yamouri could react to what I had said. I grabbed one and stuffed it in my mouth. Wow, the pickles and the mustard and mayo go perfect together. "Try one." I said after I swallowed mine. I handed the plate to Kirihara and Inoue. "They're soooo good!" They took one and ate them. "You're great at cooking, Yamouri." I looked at her and smiled. She crossed her arms and huffed.

"Didn't I already explain that?"

The bell rang and all the students put their supplied away.

"Clean up and wrap up your finished product in one of the containers under the table." Fukawa-sensei said, clapping his hands. Yamouri reached under the table and poured the eggs into the bowl and put the cap on.

"Give this to Niou." Yamouri said, licking her fingers. I jumped and handed it back to her.

"Why can't you do that?!" I asked nervously. She rolled her eyes as she took her hair down. She handed me the hair tie. "Keep it." I kindly said.

"Because I think he'll accept it if it's from you." She said, showing disinterest. "It may not be his favorite food, but he'll gladly take anything a fangirl makes." She started washing her hands.

"I'm NOT a fangirl." I hissed. She grabbed the container and glared.

"Fine. I'll take it." Then she followed Fukawa-sensei out of the room. Yamouri needs help. Sometimes she's cool, then she's annoying, then she's fun, finally she ends up being a nuisance.

"Let's go back to class." Kaede said, walking up to me and taking my arm. "Are you ready, Kiri?" She asked. I saw Inoue was already gone. Kirihara nodded and we all started walking together. "So I heard Yamouri and you made great food."

"Yamouri made it all." I said shyly.

"Well, she is the chairman of the cooking club." Kirihara said. "You're lucky, you don't ever have to work. I wish Yamouri were my partner." I tried to hold back the urge to hit him. "Kaede, what's out next class?"

"I think it's Japanese today." She replied. We walked past another hallway and I caught a glimpse of Yamouri and silver hair… My heart dropped and stopped walking. Yamouri was with Niou. "Kaya, what's wrong?"

"Shh." I leaned against the wall and strained myself to hear what they were saying.

"Niou, we had just finished Home Economics." Yamouri's velvet voice was easy to recognize.

"So?" Niou asked in his cocky voice.

"So, I was partnered with Kaya and we had to make deviled eggs." Yamouri said in an annoyed tone. So I wasn't the only one who found Niou annoying. "She wanted me to give you the ones we made." Yamouri finally said. I heard rustling.

"Oh, thanks." Niou said, over confidently. I made a fist and emerged from the corner.

"I did not say that!" I yelled. Yamouri and Niou looked at me. He was holding the container. Niou smirked and held up the eggs. "Yamouri wanted to give them to you." I explained. Niou shrugged and walked over to me.

"Well, I'll be going to class." Yamouri sang, running past me and Niou and turning around the corner. She's is soooo annoying.

"Thanks, Kaya." Niou said, finally reaching me. I blushed and backed up from him.

"I told you, Yamouri was the one who wanted to give them to you." I repeated. A door behind Niou opened and a flash of familiar red hair made me blush again.

"Niou, what's taking so long?" Marui moaned. He looked at me and he looked surprised. "Kaya, what are you doing out here?" Then he started walking over towards us.

"I'm explaining to Niou how I didn't want him to have the leftovers." I said, glaring at Niou. He smirked and faced Marui, who was to our right.

"Practice is cancelled, right, Marui?" Niou asked. Marui and I both jumped. "That makes room in my schedule for that cake date after school, isn't that right?"

"Niou, you can't!" Marui protested.

"But I am." Niou countered. I hit my head with my hand. Please don't let Niou come on the cake thingy with me and Marui. Please, just please. Niou turned towards me and smiled. "Marui and I will meet you at your classroom after school." Niou said. I glared, but it appeared to have no effect on him.

"Niou, you--"

"You better get to class, Kaya." Niou interrupted me. I jumped and stomped off. When I turned the corner, Kirihara and Kaede were staring at me with disbelieving eyes. I stormed past them, only for them to soon catch up with me.

"Niou is tagging along?!" Kirihara asked, horrified. "I better come too."

"Kiri, you can't, remember? You and Yamouri are going out after school." Kaede answered him. I blinked and elbowed her stomach on 'accident.' "Oww!"

"Oh, uh, that's right." Kirihara replied. I raced into our classroom and quickly sat down. I couldn't take any more of this. I was totally spaced out when Fukawa-sensei started lecturing us about using Japanese correctly and stuff like that. I tuned him out the entire time because I was too worried about my upcoming dat-- outing with friends.

Aw man, why did Niou have to come? Well, there's a part of me that's happy he is, because then I won't be alone with Marui, but still. I think I'd rather be alone with Marui than to be with Niou again.

* * *

Chapter 4! Tell me what you think, kay? ^^  
&& I'd like to thank everyone who had reviewed the past 3 chapters! Thank you sooo much!! ^^


	5. Cake Date

**Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi, I merely own Kaya Toya and her family.  
Time for Chapter 5!**

* * *

"Okay, class, thank you for your hard work. Since it's the first day, there is no cleaning duty." Fukawa-sensei said as the bell rang. I slowly gathered my things in my school bag and Kaede tapped on my shoulder. I looked back at her.

"Well, they day went by fast." Kaede said. "Excited to after school?" She asked, already knowing the answer. I shook my head wearily.

"I just want to go home now." I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Kiri, are you ready to go?" Yamouri squealed. I quickly opened my eyes again and saw her hugging his arm. "I can't wait." She said excitingly. I puffed my cheeks and looked away from them.

"Kaya, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Kirihara said, shyly. I didn't look at him. "Or maybe I'll text you." He said, waving his phone around. "See you later." He said, walking towards the door with Yamouri.

"Bye, Kirihara." I muttered, before he closed the door.

"You jealous nooow?" Kaede smirked. I faced her and hide my blush pretty well, if I do say so myself. "Kaya Toya has two boys who definitely like her, who will she chose?" She announced like a news woman, saying into her hand.

"Kaede, first off that's so not true. How many times, do I have to say, we're just friends." I replied, trying to making a point to her this time.

"I simple love how cute you are, Kaya." Kaede smiled at me. I gave up and took out my phone. I have to text brother and tell him that I won't be home until late. "Kayaaa, you're date_s_ are here." I looked up from my phone and saw Marui and Niou enter the room. I heard some fangirls doing their job as I finally sent the message. I stood up and grabbed my schoolbag. Kaede grabbed my wrist and I looked down at her. "Good luck." Her mismatched eyes sparkled, signaling that she was sincere. I smiled down at her when the boys reached my desk.

"Heyy, Kaya, are you ready?" Marui cheered, apparently, he got over the idea of Niou tagging along. He didn't seem so angry about it anymore.

"Yeah." I replied, walking off with them. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kaede." I glanced back at Kaede who was holding her arm up with her fingers crossed. I smiled at her one last time before we walked out of the room and down the crowded hallway.

"The café isn't far, it'll be like, five minutes." Marui gushed, smiling at me. I smiled back. I don't want to admit it, but I missed him the entire day I didn't see him. Besides break and lunch, that is. "Oh~ I haven't eaten there in such a long time!"

"Marui, calm down, I think you're making Kaya worried about her money." Niou joked. I blinked and thought. I don't think I brought that much money today anyways. Aww, but, I can't tell them. "Besides, just looking at her face right now says she didn't bring much money today." I jumped and looked at the smirking Niou.

"Niou, how did you--?" I started, but was too surprised to even finished. I crossed my arms when Marui looked at me.

"Kaya, is that true?" Marui asked, in a disappointed tone. I hesitated, but ended up nodding my head. Niou put his hand on my shoulder and I saw Marui take on his angry face. I though Niou was going to put his arm around me again.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for most of it today." Niou offered. I looked up at him and Marui's face relaxed. "But next time, Kaya will have to pay for everything." I looked away, so this was his plan. He pays for it this time, for an excuse for us to go out again as long as I pay.

"Deal." I replied, unhappily. Niou removed his hand from me. We all exited the school and made our way for the main gate. I didn't know what to say to these boys as we walked, so I decided to just stay silent again, but this silence wasn't that awkward, well, it wasn't nearly as awkward as I thought it would be.

When we past the main gate, meaning we weren't at the Rikkaidai campus anymore, there were tons of groups of girls talking and signaling for us. I guess they were talking about Niou and Marui, because I doubt any of them even knew me.

"Niou, you're fangirls are talking about you." Marui teased, elbowing his teammate. Niou rubbed off Marui and looked around.

"You too, Marui." Niou replied.

"Both of you are so popular." I said in a monotone. Niou rubbed my hair and I hit his stomach playfully, seeing at that's where my hand reached. He was also pretty tall, which I failed to notice until now. Great.

"The whole tennis team is." Niou responded. "Let's see. From the tennis team you know: Marui, Kirihara, Sanada, and me." Niou thought out loud. "That's only half of our regulars."

"You still need to meet: Yukimura, Jackal, Yanagi, and Yagyuu." Marui cut in. "Yukimura is our captain, Jackal is my doubles partner, Yanagi is our data genius, and Yagyuu is Niou's doubles partner." Marui explained.

"So, every one of you is popular?" I questioned. Marui and Niou nodded.

"Maybe Sanada is the least, but there are still girls who like him, though he is utterly uninterested." Niou said.

"And Niou is the most popular… probably, but then again, that's because he's a bit of a playboy." A voice cut in. We all jumped and saw a boy with purple hair, who was in front of us, turn around. He also was wearing glasses, so I couldn't see his glasses.

"Yagyuu!" Niou yelled, half with surprise and half with happiness. It was a bit torn. Yagyuu is Niou's doubles partner. So this boy was on the tennis team too?

Yagyuu slowed down to walk with us. He looked at me and took my hand. I blushed. "It's a pleasure to met you, my name is Yagyuu Hiroshi." He introduced himself, making a small bow.

"Yagyuu is also titled a gentleman." Marui rolled his eyes and shrugging.

"Um, hello, my name is Toya Kaya." I said. He released my hand and smiled.

"What a beautiful name."

"Yagyuu, back off, Marui, Kirihara, and I found her first." Niou said, pulling his doubles partner away from me. I glared at Niou.

"Niou, that's not nice!" Marui complained, blowing a bubble. Then he turned to me. "I'm sorry about that, Kaya."

"It's fine, Marui." I said, trying not to get angry again. I looked around and noticed we were in the park again. The same park where Marui and I met, this morning.

"Niou, try to be kind to her." Yagyuu said, pushing up his glasses. "I'm sorry, but I must be going. I have to catch a bus that will take me home." He said, looked at me and Marui. "I will see you tomorrow." He said, waving as he took off.

"And that, was Yagyuu Hiroshi." Marui said, looking at me. I nodded.

"He seems nice." I replied, then I glanced at Niou. "A lot nicer than Niou." Niou flinched and turned towards me.

"Not cool, Kaya." Niou said. Marui laughed.

"It's so true, though." Marui added. I smirked at Niou, who glared at me this time. If he's going to mess with me, then I'll mess with him back. "Ah, here we are!" Marui said, pointing towards the small café across the street. "Mm, I can smell it from here!" We looked down the street before we ran across.

"I'm pretty hungry." Niou said, as we walking into the shop. "I didn't eat much for lunch." I rolled my eyes, remembering how I saw him with a group of girls.

"Well, you can eat all the cake you want here!" Marui said. We stopped at a podium. A boy with light hair and dark eyes looked up at us.

"Please seat yourselves, we will be with you shortly." He said, showing a fake smile. Marui walked into the back and I followed and Niou followed me.

"Let's sit in the back." Marui said, happily. Marui seems to be happy to get some cake. Does he really love it that much? He stopped and let me sit down first. I took a seat on the right side, against the wall. Marui was about to sit down in the booth next to me, but Niou slid in before Marui. Marui glared at the trickster and I glared at Niou also.

"Marui, take a seat." Niou hummed, avoiding our eyes. Marui huffed as he took a seat in front of me.

"Hello, what may I get you drink?" The boy from earlier asked, handing us menus with tons of pictures of cakes all over them.

"Water."

"Tea."

"Tea." I looked at Marui. We had ordered the same drink.

"Okay, and take a look at our cakes and I'll be back to get you the ones you choose." The boy disappeared.

"Niou, Niou, I want this strawberry one. Look." Marui shoved his menu into Niou's hands. "It has a strawberry base with vanilla icing and fresh strawberries on it. Not to mention, it says it has a hint of orange in there." I leaned over and looked at the picture of the cake in the menu. I did look delicious, but it also looked expensive.

"I want a cake with cinnamon in it." I murmured. The boys looked at me and Marui took back his menu and flipped through it.

"Here, what about this one? This was looks yummy too!" Marui said, now handing me the menu. I smiled and took it. It was a picture of a plain cinnamon cake shaped in many different hearts. "It's called, Buttery Cinnamon Cake."

"Let's order this one too." Niou said, showing Marui and I a picture of a cake with yellow frosting and chocolate glaze. It looked really yummy. "It's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake." Marui took his menu and licked his lips.

"I think we should order them right now!" Marui cheered. I smiled at how adorable Marui is. Our waiter returned, as if he just heard us. He set down our drinks and looked at all of us.

"What may I get you?" He asked. Marui showed him the menu.

"This Strawberry Deluxe cake, a Buttery Cinnamon Cake, and a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake." Marui ordered. Our waiter took our menus.

"I'll be out with your cake." He said, walking off.

"So, Kaya, what's your favorite color?" Niou asked, turn his full attention to me. I jumped and blushed.

"Purple." I blurted. Marui leaned over the table.

"That's a good color." Marui said, eyeing Niou. I laughed a little at Marui. It seemed liked they were competing.

"Kaya, did you have a boyfriend before you moved here?" Niou then asked. I jumped and looked from Niou to Marui, then repeated it. I blushed and quickly looked around the room.

"N-Niou!" I yelled pushing him away from me. He leaned back and kept staring at me.

"So, what's the answer?" Niou pressed. I growled lowly at him as I glared.

"Niou you can't ask that!" Marui yelled. I looked at him and saw that his face was red too, a lighter shade than his hair. "That's a personal question." Niou shrugged.

"It's not that personal. At least I didn't ask something like:" He leaned over towards me and made me press myself against the wall in the booth. "Kaya, do you like me?" I blinked and blushed. I can't believe he just asked that.

"Niou, you--"

"Then, do you like Marui?" Niou asked, showing bedroom eyes. He leaned closer and closer to me. I side ways glanced at Marui, who was still speech less with that light red tint showing on his face. He looked confused, like he was torn between telling Niou to back off or leave him for me to answer the questions.

"Back off!" I screamed, pushing him away. Niou fell out of the booth and when he sat up, he rubbed his head, messing up his silver hair.

"Is everything okay over here?" Waiter boy came and looked at the scene. My face was still burning when I withdrew my hand and looked away.

"Everything's fine." I muttered. Marui caught my eye as he fidgeted in his seat. "I'm going to the restroom." I huffed, scooting out and walking past Niou. I went straight for the restrooms and when I went in I stared at myself in the mirror.

"Kaya, calm down." I tried to pep talk myself. "Niou is an idiot and you know that, you can't let him get inside your head." I shook my head and took a few deep breaths. I took out my phone and opened it. Two new messages.

**From Kane:  
Wait, you're going on a date already?! But it's your first day! Well, I guess you are pretty good looking, I guess. Anyways, tell me how it goes when you get home and tell me if I need to beat up anybody!**

I read the last few words over and over again. Maybe I should tell Kane about Niou. No, that'd be mean. To have my brother beat him up just because of one little mistake he did. I'll give Niou a few more chances. I looked at the other message.

**From Kirihara:  
Hey, Kaya! Well, I just wanted to text you to becuz well, idk. I hope you're having fun. Oh and Yamouri says hi. **

I rolled my eyes at him. Suddenly my phone vibrated again and I opened the new message.

**From Marui:  
Hey, are you okay? I'm really sorry about Niou. We didn't mean to anger you. ****L**

I sighed and closed my phone. Dang these boys are getting to me. I looked at myself in the mirror once more. I walked out of the bathroom and saw them both sitting in silence. "Hey, I didn't mean to storm off like that." I said, slyly. They both looked up at me and I made a small bow.

"I should be the one apologizing." Niou said. "I didn't mean to make you angry." He said. His usual cocky turquoise eyes read sorrow. I signaled him to scoot over. I took a seat on the outside this time.

"It's fine." I said, giving him a reassuring smile. "Anyways, to answer your first question," I took a deep breath and saw Marui studying me. "I didn't have a boyfriend before I moved here."

"Really?" Niou asked, not bothering to hide his shock. "You're so beautiful, I would've thought that boys would be all over you." I blushed when I looked at him. He's already back to his usual antics.

"Niou…" Marui said in a disapproving tone. "Well, actually, I'm surprised too." Marui brought his attention back to me and smiled. "He's right." I immediately looked down at my shoes to hide my burning face times 2.

"Uh, yeah. Well, only a few guys liked me, but I never thought about dating." I shrugged, trying not to sound lame. Niou wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into his chest. I blushed and gritted my teeth. It still felt awkward, but I guess it was the good kind of awkward.

"Would you date me?" Niou asked. I felt his hot breath on the top of head. I closed my eyes, trying not to blush. Holding back my blush was difficult.

"Niou, no fair!" Marui yelled. "Stop it." Marui begged. I liked how Marui's voice sounded when he said that. He sounded so adorable.

"Kaya, was there a boy you liked?" Niou kept asking, totally tuning Marui out.

"…No." I finally said after a moment of silence. Niou released me and I quickly pulled my head back and straightened my hair. Niou stared at me disbelieving.

"No way." both Marui and Niou said in unison. I blinked. Okay, so I failed that attempt to make myself sound not as lame.

"Not even a little bit?" Marui asked, cocking his head to the side. I looked up at the ceiling and thought for a second or two before I returned my gaze back to his violet eyes and blurted something I'd surely regret.

"Not until now."

Both boys blushed and this time I was surprised. Wait… what did I just blurt? I covered my face with my hand and rested it there. Man, I was so laaaame.

"Umm…" Marui stuttered, fidgeting in his seat.

"Here are your cakes. Thanks for waiting." Waiter boy suddenly popped out of no where. He set the three cakes on the table with some plates and bowed. "I hope you enjoy them." He truly smiled and disappeared. All the awkwardness instantly vanished.

"Yay, cake!!" Marui cheered, cutting the cake and set a piece of all the cakes on a plate and started eating. He looked to happy with his cake.

"Aren't you going to eat any, Kaya?" Niou asked. I turned and saw that he has gotten his cake too. He took another bite and managed to make eating cake look seductive. I shook my head. Niou is getting in my head again.

"Yeah, I'll eat some." I said, grabbing a plate and taking a piece of the cinnamon cake on there and setting it back down. Marui looked so adorable. Niou looked insanely seductive. I silently cursed the boys' tennis team as I started eating. "Niou, aren't you a playboy?" I asked, after I finished chewing. Marui started laughing, but he stopped when he choked on his strawberry cake. Niou and I laughed at Marui.

"No, I'm a trickster." Niou said after Marui recovered. I smiled at Marui, who returned it. "I pull pranks, remember? Or were you not paying attention when I recruit Kirihara this morning?" I blinked and nodded.

"Oh yeah, well, I knew saw you pull a prank before." I said, taking another bite. This cinnamon cake was really good.

"Relax, you've only known me for one day, baby." Niou said sweetly. I rolled my eyes at his attempt to try and sound funny.

"Niou isn't much of a playboy." Marui cut in. We both looked at Marui and he was licking frosting off of his elbow. How it got there, was left unknown. "Sure, he had tons of fangirls, but he doesn't date that much."

"Not really any of the tennis regulars date any girl." Niou reminded. Marui nodded his agreement and kept eating. "Even if we like someone and they like us back, we still don't date them." Niou explained. I cocked my head to the side.

"Huh?"

"Take Yagyuu and Kaede for instance." Niou said.

"Wait, Kaede likes Yagyuu?" I asked, surprised. I recalled Yagyuu. He looked like the studious type, that's not the kind of guy I picture Kaede going for. She was so open and friendly. Well, she is the kind of girl to date a sporty type of guy and that's what Yagyuu is.

"Yup and he likes her too, but he has to focus on tennis first. Winning Nationals is the most important thing right now." Niou said. I nodded, understanding what he was saying now. I looked at Marui, who was still eating and it seemed like he was trying to avoid my eyes. "It's not something we have to do, but we chose to do it. Seeing as having a girlfriend takes focus, too."

"So, you've never had a boyfriend?" Marui asked in between bites. I looked at him and shook my head. "Well, you are young."

"Marui, she's a year younger than us." Niou said flatly. Then he turned towards me and smiled. "I think it's sweet." I blushed.

"Stupid playboy." I whispered out loud.

"Huh?"

"Nothing.." I ate more cake. "This cinnamon cake is really good!" I squeaked. The boys looked at me.

"The strawberry and peanut butter ones are too!" Marui added, equally as happy as I am. "I'm glad practice was cancelled for today. I love cake!" I smiled at him. I can never get enough of his cuteness.

"Me too." Niou said. Marui and I both glared at Niou. Though, I'm still willing to forgive him. "So, Kaya, do you know what club you're going to join?" Niou asked, trying to stop us glaring at the third wheel.

"I have to join a club?"

Marui nodded, with his face stuffed with cake. "You don't have to, but the school would rather you were apart of something." Marui took more cake and at it. "You could join the cooking club with Yamouri!" He licked his lips. "She makes the most yummiest cakes ever!!" I flinched, somehow that hurt.

"Ah, that's right." Niou said. "Did Yamouri bring you a cake today?" I blinked, totally lost, but still annoyed about this Yamouri talk.

"No, not today, but she said tomorrow for sure." Marui cheered. Niou turned towards me because he must have felt my confusion.

"Yamouri bakes Marui a cake everyday." Niou explained. I slowly and made a fist under the table. Niou must have know because he reached down and held my hand. I jumped and blushed. "Jealous girl?" He whispered. I shook my head no as I withdrew my hand. "Oh that's right! Marui," He turned back to Marui and grinned. "Yamouri and Kaya are partners in Home Economics." Marui perked up and stopped eating his cake. He looked at me.

"No way, really? How are things? What did you guys cook today? Oh wait…" He trailed off, remembering the scene where Niou invited himself on our cake date. "Never mind." He continued eating. Niou reached for another cake.

"I never knew boys loved cake so much." I joked. Niou smiled at me, but Marui was too busy to reply. I grabbed a piece of the strawberry cake next. All three of the cakes were soon gone, especially since we had Marui with us.

"Here is the check, please pay me up front." Waiter boy said, setting the receipt by me and then leaving. I picked it up and turned it over. Before I saw the price, Niou snatched it from me.

"Hey!"

"I said I'd pay for it, remember?" Niou replied, shrugging. I puffed out my cheeks and I for the receipt, which he was holding towards the wall, over his head.

"Let me see!" I begged, reaching over him. He leaned it more back and I leaned in closer. "Niou!" I giggled. The more he tilted his arm away, the more I leaned towards him.

"Niou, stop it." Marui said, glaring at him. Niou and I both looked at Marui, who was pouting. "I know what you're doing." I blinked and look at Niou, who's face was only a few inches from mine. I blushed a deep red and jumped back.

"Aww, Marui, you're no fun, and here she was so close to me." Niou teased. He's inside my head. I shook my head. "Are you alright, Kaya?"

"I'm fine!" I growled unintentionally. Niou backed off and slid out.

"Ready to go, Marui?" Niou asked. Marui nodded and slid out. We all walked over to the front. "Here's the money. Keep the change." Niou said, waving at the waiter boy.

"Thank you and come again."

We exited the café and walked into the sunset. "What time is it?" I asked, looking at Marui for the time. He took out his phone.

"It's about 5:40 pm." Marui replied. "It feels later than it actually is." We walked across the street and Niou was looking down the road.

"Well, thank you for the cake date, Kaya." Niou said, smiling down at me. "I live this way." He said, pointing down the road. "See you two tomorrow!" He said, waving as he ran off.

"Ah, bye, Niou." I replied. Marui and I started walking towards the intersection by where I lived and I'm guessing he lived close to there too.

Now that Niou was gone, it was just Marui and I, walking home. I was relieved when he left, it ended the awkwardness on the cake date. I looked at Marui when we finally arrived at the intersection where Marui and I take our separate ways. I looked at him and smiled. "Maybe next time, it could just be the two of us." He says, startling me. I blushed and nodded. I'd like that, I thought. "See you tomorrow, Kaya." Marui said, smiling. He turned his back towards me.

"Um, Marui?" I asked. He spun back around. "Thank you." I gently said. I walked over to him and hugged him. He hugged back and I blushed.

"Anything for you, Kaya." Marui said when I pulled away and looked at his violet eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I giggled. He smiled.

"Good night, Kaya." Then he turned around and started walking off. I wanted to call him back again. I just didn't want him to leave me.

I started walking for my house, which was only two minutes from here. Overall, the day wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. At least it was miserable.

"Yo, Kaya." my brother's familiar voice made me looked and see him standing in front of our house. He was still wearing his high school uniform. "I was waiting for you for about ten minutes." He said, grinning. "Let's get inside."

"No, I wanted to stand out here." I retorted. He pushed me in the door, playfully.

"How was your date?" Mom asked, running over to me. I jumped and glared at Kane, who was standing behind me. He put his hands up defensively. "Who did you go with? Where did you go? Oooh, Kaya. I'm so happy for you!"

"Hisano, please, don't be excited for our daughter's first date." Dad said, walking into the living room, where mom has just pulled me into. Mom looked back at dad and smiled her kind smile.

"As you said, Huyu, it's our daughter's first date." Mom replied. Then her attention turned back to me. I threw my schoolbag into the corner of the room as I sat on the couch. Kane sat on the recliner by the couch and he was leaning towards me. Mom saw right by me and she held my hand. Dad remained standing with his arms crossed. "Tell us about it, Kaya-dear." I took another deep breath.

"We went to a café and ordered three cakes." I started off. I tried to avoid telling my family who I went with, but I doubt that'd work. "It was a nice small, dainty café. The cakes were really yummy too. He paid for it and he gave me a hug before I came home." I used the first 'he' to describe Niou and the second 'he' to describe Marui.

"Who did you go with?" Kane asked, smirking. I blinked and glared at him. I don't think mom and dad even noticed how I didn't say who I went with, but now they do, thanks to Kane.

"Two boys." I sighed.

"What?" Dad asked, scowling.

"Two boys?" Mom questioned. "Who are they, dear?"

"Well, they are both 3rd years, and--"

Kane snorted. "You went on a date with two 3rd years? You're kidding me right?" Kane started laughed.

"Kane, let your sister finish." Dad said. Kane instantly quieted down. "Go ahead, sweetie."

"One was Niou Masaharu, who is also known as the trickster of Rikkaidai." I explained. "He invited himself on the cake date thing. The other boy was Marui Bunta, who I met this morning at the park. He first asked me on the cake date, but when Niou heard, he wanted to go. So that's how all three of us went."

"…Are you serious?" Kane asked. This time he wasn't teasing. I slowly nodded and he hit his head with his hand. "Niou is trouble, Kaya, stay away from him." I rolled my eyes, I already knew that.

"Dear, how do you know this Niou boy?" Mom asked, looking at brother. He took a breath and shrugged.

"He's on Yukimura's team." Kane simply stated.

"You still talk to Yukimura-san?" Mom went on. Kane nodded.

"Anyways, I heard of Marui, he's pretty cool from what I hear." Kane went on. "Just be careful of that Niou guy."

"Too late for that." I mutter under my breath.

"What was that?" Dad asked. I shook my head and smiled up at him.

"I had fun." I chirped. Dads smiled at me. "I'm going to my room." I quickly retreated up the stairs and into my room.

"You didn't tell us about your whole day!" Mom yelled, sounding disappointed. I closed my door and sighed. Sorry, mom, but I don't feel like recalling the memories of Kaede, Kirihara, and Yamouri, even though not all of them were bad. I changed my clothes into something more comfortable: sweats and a loose white t-shirt. I threw my phone on my bed as it vibrated. Hmm. I picked it back up and opened it. One new message.

**From Marui: Kaya, do you want to walk to school w/ me trmw? We could meet by the intersection. **

I smiled and texted him back:

**To Marui: Yes, I'd like that. Thx. See you at 7:30. I'll eat breakfast this time. ^^**

I sent it and laid on my bed. I have to admit. I think I might have a crush on Marui.

* * *

**Chapter 5! Thank you for reading it! ^^ Review?  
Thanks for those who review it! When I get a review it motivates me to keep writing, so thank you very much!! ^^**


	6. Annoying Trickster

**Disclaimer: Own Only Kaya Toya.  
Chapter 6! I wish to thank everyone who had read all of them to this one. ^^**

Okay, well, since break is almost over, it's about time for me to be going home, and sadly, I don't have internet at my house, so my updates might be coming be really slow from here on out. I'm really sorry, but I think, whenever I get internet, I might be uploading 2 to 4 chapters at a time, since this story might pretty long -_-  
Once again, Sorry, ...but here is chapter 6!!

* * *

I woke up thanks to Kane's loud pounding on the door. I was smart today and actually locked my door. No pouncing on me today. Take that, Kane! Well, he still woke me up..

"Wake up, Kaya!" Kane yelled. I turned over in my bed and put my pillow over my head. "Kaya, I know your trying to ignore me!" More yelling. He stopped knocking and I smiled.

Suddenly, my door busted open and I was glomped again. "Get off, Kane!" This time it was my turn to yell. He pulled my covers off and took my hand. "How did you get in?" He flashed his school ID card. I blinked; dang so he used his ID huh.

"Now get ready," He said, getting off and messing with his black hair. "Today you are going to eat breakfast and I'm going to walk you to school." I blinked and remembered today I was supposed to meet Marui at the intersection.

"You're not coming with me." I hissed. Kane smirked and bent over towards me.

"I have to watch my little sister, don't I?" He teased. I pushed him away and stood up. Maybe standing up didn't help because he still towered over me. "Or do you already have plans for this morning?"

"Kane, get out of my room." I said, trying to act cool, but feeling my blush spread across my cheeks. "I'm going to get dress." I pushed him to the door and slammed it before he said anything else.

"Fine, I'll just read your messages to Mom and Dad." Kane yelled through the door. I blushed and looked for my phone. It wasn't on my dresser, where I put it every night so it can charge.

"Kane!" I screeched. I didn't noticed him take my phone. I opened the door and saw him with my phone, flipping through it. I blushed as I snatched it from him.

"Sooo… Marui, huh?" He questioned. I glared at him as I slammed my door shut. I threw my phone on my bed as I got changed. The navy dress was actually comfy to wear. I threw on my uniform jacket and grabbed my phone and shoved it into my uniform pocket.

"Kaya, Kane, come eat breakfast!" Mom yelled. I looked ran into my bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I had to hurry and finish or else Kane would have eaten all the food Mom made.

"Kane, you better have not eaten everything!" I yelled as I raced out of the bathroom and into the kitchen/dining room. I froze when I saw silver sitting at our table. "Wait a--"

"Morning, Kaya." Niou laughed, taking a bite of my mother's American croissants. I blinked and saw Kane start laughing at my surprised face.

"Why the hell are you in my house?" I hissed, stomping over to him. Kane reached over and put his arm around Niou in a guy manner.

"I invited him over for breakfast." Kane said. We locked eyes and I hate to admit it, but I was the first to look away.

Damn you, Kane, damn you!

I kept repeating in my head as I reached for a croissant of my own. I glared, menacingly at Kane and Niou, but they just ignored it.

"I was happy this morning when Kane said he'd invited over Masaharu." Mom said, smiling her clueless smile. "Masaharu, I'd like to thank you for taking my dear Kaya out last night." I jumped and saw Niou smirk.

"It wasn't a problem at all, Toya-san, I'd like to take her out again sometime." Niou replied. I saw Kane cover his laugh with his hand as he looked at me. I shot Kane a You'll-pay-for-this glare and he instantly stifled his laugh.

"I'd love for you to take our daughter out again, you seem like a good boy." Dad said, setting his hand on Mom's shoulder.

"Be gentle with our daughter." They said in unison. I froze and blinked. I couldn't move one bit.

"Hear that, Niou? You got the okay." Kane laughed, starting to cry from laughter. I threw my hand on the table and looked at Kane.

"Weren't _you _the one who told me to stay away from Niou?!" I yelled. I ran to the corner and grabbed my schoolbag and took about two more croissants. "I'm going to school!" I announced.

"Excuse our daughter, she has a bit of an attitude." I heard Mom say as I slammed the door. Niou isn't the one I like. I like Marui. _Marui. _

I took another bite of the croissants I had and quickly ate them before I got to the intersection. Marui was already waiting there when I reached it. "Sorry to make you wait." I said. He looked at me and smiled shyly.

"Oh, I wasn't waiting that long." He replied. Then we started walking and I instantly forgot about the whole Niou-being-at-my-house-this-morning incident. "You had croissants for breakfast?" He asked. When I gave him a confused look he added, "I saw you quickly eat them on your way over to me."

"Oh, well yeah, my mom is obsessed with American food, so she always cooks it. It does taste yummy." I said.

"That's good, at least you're mom makes you breakfast, I have to make it myself every morning." He replied. I felt bad for him, though I know he didn't mean to make me feel bad. "Anyways, I'm glad there wasn't any morning practice today. Lately our practice has been called short or cancelled because our captain is in the hospital."

"Ah, for the Guillain-Barre Syndrome, right?" I asked, remembering how brother changed after he heard of Yukimura's situation. "Brother was sad from hearing about it. He goes to see him in the hospital every now and then."

"Our team goes to visit him sometimes too." Marui said. "It's pretty fun, since we sometimes bring cake and we all talk about random things." He looked up at the sky. "I think that's what we're going to do today."

"When is he getting out of the hospital?"

"Tomorrow. Oh yeah! Our first round of the tennis tournament is going to be in a few days, so you coming?" He asked with total excitement. I really have nothing planned for the entire week, well month.

"Of course!" I smiled.

"I'm really excited for the beginning of tennis. We're going to win Nationals this year! Our third time." Oh yeah, Rikkaidai's boy's tennis team won Nationals two years in a row.

"I'll cheer for you and Kirihara." I smiled and he smiled back. "And Niou." I blurted.

"Huh?"

"Oh, uh, good luck." I lamely said. Niou is inside of my head again; I can't let that happen! I faced forward as we walked in silence.

"Kaya?"

"Hm?"

"Do you like Niou?"

I jumped away from Marui and blushed. These blushes have been coming a lot lately and frankly, it's annoying. "Heck no! Where did you get that idea?" Marui shrugged and avoided my eyes again.

"I was just wondering, but I'm relieved you don't." He said. We met eyes and I saw that he was blushing too.

"O-Oh." I looked down at the ground. "Well, Marui, I--"

"Kaya~ Why did you take off this morning?"

I froze and saw Marui turn around. "Niou, what are you doing here?" I flinched as I felt Niou's presence around me.

"Well, I was invited over to Kaya's house for breakfast." Niou replied. I turned and glared at silver and he smiled at me. Marui stepped in front of Niou and looked at me.

"Kaya?"

"I didn't want him at my house! Kane invited him over without me ever knowing." I protested. Niou put his hand on Marui's shoulder who shot a glare back at him.

"It's true, sadly, when she saw me, she took off." Niou explained. Marui seemed surprised by his honestly. I blinked, I was surprised too. Then Niou put his hands behind his head and leaned back, closing his eyes. "I may like Kaya, but I don't want to affect the relationship you two have." I blushed and almost fell forward.

"Niou, that's a lie." Marui calmly replied. "I mean about the part about you liking Kaya. You just like to mess around, as always, why should Kaya be any different?" Niou opened his eyes again and laughed.

"Marui, you're so--"

"Let's go, Marui." I said, pulling on Marui's arm. Marui fell over to my side of the street and Niou's bright blue eyes met my navy ones and I blushed from anger. Well, I did kind of know that Niou didn't really like me, but still, hearing the actual words kinda hurt.

"Kaya, why are you suddenly in a rush?" Marui asked as we stumbled away from Niou. I didn't look back at him, nor did I look at Marui, who was letting me drag him through the park. "Are you okay?"

"I'm _fine._" I reassured him; I looked across the street and saw the small cake café where we had gone last night. "Marui, you said the team was going to visit Yukimura after school?"

"Um, yeah, I think so."

"Oh okay, then." I sighed and kept walking. I finally released him when we were past the park. "To reach Rikkai, we just turn left, right?" I questioned. He smiled at me and I tried to smile back, but I think I failed.

"Yeah, don't you remember from walking there and back yesterday?" He asked. I jumped and put my hand behind my head.

"Well, I'm not the best with directions, besides, I was distracted by you and Niou yesterday." I shrugged and we started walking the last mile to school. "But, thanks for walking with me again this morning, Marui." I smiled and he seemed to blush.

"Well, since it seems we live to close together, why don't we," He looked around, nervously. He was so cute. "walk to school together everyday?"

"R-Really? I'd love that." I chirped. He looked up at me and we were both blushing. Could it be that Marui liked me back? I shook my head and looked at the school walls, ahead of us. Impossible, he's just being nice to you, Kaya! Plus, even if he did, he couldn't date anyways, don't forget about what Niou had said yesterday, wait, Niou? Argh, get out of my head!!

"Kaya??"

I realized that I was holding my head and shaking it around like a maniac. I blushed from embarrassment and tried to smile.

"Are you positive you're alright?" Marui asked with concern soaking his voice. I blinked and relaxed as I caught up to him, who was only a few steps ahead of me.

"I'm sorry, Marui." I tried to guarantee him, but he didn't seem convinced. "Umm, oh wow, look we're already here!" I said, running through the front gate. He laughed and walked through, catching up to me. "Rikkai isn't as bad as I thought." I had to admit. I'd thought I'd hate it and, if I didn't have Marui, I probably would.

"That's great, Kaya. Even though Rikkai is a large school, it's pretty nice." Marui said as we walked past the office building. "Is it better than Seigaku?" I sighed and recalled my old school.

"I believe so." I replied, slowly and cautiously, "but I mostly enjoyed the garden at Seigaku."

"We have a rooftop garden here." Marui informed me. I jumped and stared at him.

"No way, really?!"

He nodded. "We can go at lunch, if you want." He offered. I nodded energetically and didn't have to fake my excitement this time. "I didn't know you were into flowers so much."

"Well, I am a girl, after all, besides, they calm me down." I shrugged and started racing off towards the stairs. My classroom was on the second floor, while Marui's was on the third floor, I guess that's how they organize most of they grade levels, though some of our classrooms are on the third floor. "Anyways, I'm gonna go to class!"

"Okay, I'll meet you at your classroom at lunch." Marui called after me. I smiled and waved.

"See you later, Marui." I yelled, running up the stairs after running inside. As soon as I reached the top step, I saw long black hair and green eyes.

"Kaya, I was waiting for you!" Yamouri said, taking my arm and pulling me over to walk to our room with her. Why was Yamouri even waiting for me? "So, how was your date yesterday?" Ahh, she gets right to the point.

"It was pretty good." I replied, studying her for any sign of an outburst or jealousy.

"I heard Niou went too, talk about bad luck. Did he make things worse?" She asked. If she was jealous, she was hiding it well.

"Uh, yeah, he kinda did." I said. Then I saw Kaede, and when I was going to call her over to save me, I noticed she was with a boy. Wait, that's the boy I met yesterday; his name was Yagyuu or something, all I remember is that he's a gentleman, oh and that Kaede and him liked one another.

"Looks like our Kaede is talking with her crush." Yamouri titled what I saw. Her eyes met mine and she shrugged. "I just feel bad for girls who fall for those tennis boys. They can't have them either way, even if the boy likes them back." My heart fell, her jealousy seemed to be rubbing everything in. "Oh well, things will be different for Kaya and Marui, right?" I jumped and blushed. "You're so transparent, Kaya, I have to admit, it's cute."

"Doesn't Yamouri like Marui, too?" I questioned, sneaking a glare at her.

"I gotta say, Marui is hot, but as I said, tennis boys can't date, so why fall for him any more than this?" Yamouri made and point as we walked past Kaede. I noticed her mismatched eyes sparkle when she looked up at Yagyuu. She has my pity, but maybe I should also pity myself; I fell for Marui. "Anyways, don't you have something to ask me?"

I looked back at Yamouri and looked around the crowded hallway. Oh! "How was your date with Kirihara?" I asked, not really wanting to hear how her date went.

"Our date was post-poned to today." Yamouri replied a little too quickly. I blinked and felt relieved. "He just walked me home and that was it. Kiri is so sweet." She said a little too sweetly. "Don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess he is." I answered. We reached our classroom and I opened the door and we both walked in. "Where's Kirihara?" I asked, noticing his empty desk right beside me. I sat down and Yamouri sat in her seat, diagonal from me.

"Kiri is usually late, that's just how he is." Yamouri shrugged and set down her schoolbag, I did that same and I looked at our nearly empty room. I saw Kirihara's partner, Inoue, sitting in the front row of the room. She was alone. "Here." She handed me a paper and I took and looked at it. "It's my number, you know, just in case." She winked and I nodded.

I set the paper in my bag and when I sat up, I saw the classroom door open, revealing Kaede. She quickly walked over to us and took her seat behind me. "Niou is a jerk!" She hissed, putting her head on her desk.

"I agree with that, oh Kaede, did I tell you he showed up at my house this morning to eat breakfast?" I asked, knowing she's want to hear it. Her head shot back up and Yamouri leaned towards me.

"He WHAT!?" Both girls yelled in unison. I nodded sadly.

"What happened?" Kaede asked.

"First, tell us what he just did to you." I bargained. Kaede thought about it and eventually nodded. Kaede turned towards Yamouri.

"You know how Niou and Yagyuu play tennis, right?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, by impersonating each other." Yamouri smiled. I blinked, what were they talking about? Tennis, oh yeah. Well, I'll see how everyone plays when I go to the tournament in a few days. "That's really hot." I rolled my eyes at her and returned my gaze to Kaede.

"Well, he did that." Kaede said.

"No way!" Yamouri gasped.

"Yeah, cuz after you two past, the real Yagyuu came and apologized." Kaede finished, huffing.

"Impossible, how did Niou get here before I did? I ditched him on the road, yet he beat me here." I said, breathlessly.

"He _is _the Trickster." Yamouri said, obviously. "Anyways, tell us about the Niou thing that happened this morning." I let out a sigh and looked at both of them.

"Well, my brother invited Niou over to eat breakfast and when I ran downstairs, my parents were all like, you seem like a nice boy, blah blah, then they told him to be gentle with me, and that's about it."

"Nu uh, there's more. I can tell by the tone in your voice." Yamouri said. I jumped and wondered how she could read me so easily.

"Well, I walked to school with Marui again and--"

"With Marui?" Kaede questioned.

"Again?" Yamouri repeated. I nodded and went on.

"And Niou chased after us."

"Not good." Kaede whispered.

"Showdown." Yamouri teased.

"Niou said he liked me and didn't want to ruin Marui and my relationship, though Marui pointed out that Niou actually doesn't like me and he just likes to mess around." I quickly said that last part, wanting to get it out as soon as possible.

"Wow." Kaede said.

"Simple: Niou is a hot jerk, cute loser, sexy tease, irresistible womanizer, and he needs help." Yamouri stated. Kaede and I tried to hold back our laughs. "Today, I agree with the warning Kaede issued you yesterday: Don't fall for him; though I still believe whatever happens, happens."

The bell rang and soon afterwards, our classroom door burst open and Kirihara quickly ran to his seat, breathing hard.

"Kirihara, I saw that." Fukawa-sensei said, walking up to the front of the class. Kirihara leaned back in his chair as the whole class laughed at him. "Now class, today we will be learning about--"

Our math class went by pretty fast, I mean, all we did was review, well, for me the lesson was review, math is my best subject, but sadly, I think that's all I'm good at, oh wait, I'm good at English also.

Our English class was easy today also, but as always, Kirihara had to ask me for help and we partnered up again, while I saw Yamouri and Kaede partner up and gossip while Kirihara and I were actually working hard, at least he was trying to understand it.

Then finally it was break time before we knew it.

"Kiri, what are you doing for lunch?" Yamouri asked, relaxing a bit. Kirihara turned around and looked at the beautiful girl.

"I have no idea."

"You can eat with us, Kiri." Kaede offered. Kirihara looked at Yamouri, wondering if it was okay. "Yamouri, you're okay with that, right?" Yamouri looked at me.

"Of course it is." Yamouri said, still looking at me. I blinked and looked away. "So, what are you doing, Kaya?" I blushed and looked at Kaede.

"I'm eating with Marui." I shyly murmured.

"Again?" Kirihara asked. I looked at him and he leaned back in his seat. "Just wondering, that's all." He added.

"Yeah, he's taking me up to the rooftop garden." I replied naturally. Yamouri's eyes widened with disbelief.

"The rooftop garden? That's so romantic!" She commented. I blushed and looked down at my lap.

"Lucky girl, Kaya." Kaede whistled.

"That's nice." Kirihara seemed to put a damper on all of our moods. We all looked at him and he was looking forward. "What?"

"You ruined the mood." Kaede said. Yamouri patted Kirihara's back.

"Kiri, why were you late this morning?" Yamouri asked, obviously changing the subject.

"Oh, I just woke up late, that's all. I had to run the whole way here." Kirihara said, smiling. We all laughed at him.

"Wow, Kiri, wow." I laughed.

"It wasn't my fault my alarm wouldn't go off." Kirihara said defensively. Suddenly, our classroom door opened again and silver entered. Yamouri, Kaede, and I quickly faced the opposite direction to avoid him, at least we all agreed on that. "Hey, Niou!" I glared at Kirihara in my head as I heard Niou approach us.

"Hey, Kirihara." Niou replied. You could hear the fangirls in the background doing their job. "Hey, Kaede." You could hear Kaede mumble something; she didn't even bother to turn around to greet him. "Kaya, could I talk to you?" Kaede hit my knee as I stood up. I turned around and full on glared at Niou.

"Sure." I growled through gritted teeth. Niou flinched, for the first time ever since I started glaring at him, which is a lot now. I grabbed him as I walked by. This action was probably going to earn me a scolding from him fangirls, but I don't care anymore. I pulled him out of the room and released him as I leaned against the wall and window. I crossed my arms and looked down the hall. "What did you come here to talk about?"

"Wow, you mom was right, when you get angry, you really get angry!" Niou laughed. I glared. This was not the time for him to be making these kinds of jokes or trying to be funny. "She was also right about how you--"

"I know me already!" I snapped. "Quit telling me about me and just say what you were going to say." He recoiled, but recovered quickly, more quickly than I would have thought.

"She said that if I wanted to get close to you, I'd have to be patient, seeing as how you don't like me already." He muttered. I jumped and looked away. "I wanted to say I was sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have came to your house and surprised you."

"Kane did invited you, it's not like you came uninvited." I said.

"Well, I knew you would've gotten angry at me, but I still did it anyways." Niou said. I looked at him and he sincerely looked sorry. Wait..

"Aren't you the trickster? Why should you even care if I'm angry at you? You give off the I-don't-care vibe." I said, coldly. I didn't mean for it to sound cold, I was just curious.

"I care about you, Kaya."

"Womanizer!" I accused. "You don't care. Besides, if I forgive you, you'd return to your usual flirting antics." He blinked and smiled.

"I'm telling you the truth, Kaya. I really do care, which is something strange for me." Niou said, walking closer to me. If he tried to touch me, I'd scream rape and I'd probably throw him out the window. Wait, that sounds harsh, but oh well.

"Yeah, anyways, I better get to class." I lied, starting to walk for our room. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him. Here's my chance to scream.

I couldn't scream because he had hugged me. I blushed, feeling his arms wrap around me. Push. Him. Out. The. Window. I ordered myself, but he was stronger than he looked. Dang these tennis boys. "Kaya, I won't release you until you forgive me." He said. Oh my gosh, he's so childish! "And here my fangirls are all walking around and now they're all glaring at you." Oh, so that's what he's getting at. Those fangirls will make my life a living hell if they misunderstand something. Fangirls are crazy…

"I forgive you." I mumbled into his chest. He released me and smiled. "Meanie." Was the worst insult I could come up with right now because I was too focused on hiding the bright red blush that had spread across my face.

"So, Kaya, I have a question." Niou started. I touched my hair in a nervous way and looked up at him, cocking my head to the side. "Was Kirihara and Yamouri's date post-poned to today?" Niou asked.

"Yeah, something like that." I replied, still a little bit shaky. Niou smirked and put his hand on my shoulder. "What?" I asked, a bit scared of that smirk.

"Let's spy on Yamouri and Kirihara's date after school." He said. I jumped and blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what he had just said. Did he mean to follow them around? Oh man, he was!

"You want to what?!" I asked Niou. His words kept ringing in my head. _Let's spy on Yamouri and Kirihara's date after school. _Why would he want to spy? That's not a good thing to do.

"We can wear disguises, it'll be fun!" He said, like wearing disguises would totally make me change my mind. I sighed. I knew it would be a bad idea, but why didn't I listen?

"Sure, I'm free after school today anyways." I replied. He opened his arms and I backed away. "I've had enough hugs from you for one day." I said.

"Aw, c'mon."

"Nooo." I simply answered. "Now get to class."

"Wait." He said, staring at me. I blushed and wanted to hit him.

"What?" I asked, getting annoyed by this attention. He held out his hand and I just looked at it. What did he want me to do?

"Let me see your phone. I want your number." Niou bluntly said. I took out my phone and handed it to him reluctantly. "I'll text you after school about the whole spy thing."

"You mean the stalker thing?" I corrected. He looked at me and grinned. Gosh, stop grinning at me! I wanted to yell, but I decided that keeping quite was the best guess right now. He handed back my phone and waved.

"Okay, see you later, Kaya." Niou said, taking off down the hall. I moaned lightly. Kaya, what did you get yourself into? Wait a minute.. I opened my phone and looked at my new contact.

**To Niou:  
Wait, I heard that the tennis team was going to visit Yukimura today.. Aren't you supposed to be going??**

I quickly hit send and walked back into my classroom. Girls were glaring at me and my friends were eyeing me like I had just killed someone. "What's wrong?" I asked them as I took my seat. Yamouri shrugged and hit Kirihara, who looked at me and smiled.

"So, what happened with Niou?" Kaede asked. She said that sentence like some little girl would say 'boys have cooties.' I rolled my eyes and shrugged.

"Nothing really."

"Niou begged for forgiveness." Kirihara guessed. I jumped and smiled wearily at him. He kinda guessed right, but I don't know if Niou _begged. _My phone lit up since it was in silent mode and everyone looked at it. "Who's that?" I opened it. New message.

"Niou." I told them. Kaede and Yamouri gasped.

**From Niou:  
It's optional for us. Kirihara isn't going either. Besides, I already visited Yukimura this weekend by myself. Oh, and I got it, meet me in the drama room after school. It's right by the gym. Keep this on the down low, too. I got the perfect disguise. ;)**

Today was going to be a long day thanks to Niou. I leaned back in my seat as our teacher went on to lecture us about music and history.

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**There was chapter 6. My ideas have been coming a lot recently, so I've been trying my best to write them down, so I think this chapter came out pretty well, anyways, thank you for reading! ^^**

**A big THANK YOU to all of the reviewers! ^^**


	7. Rooftop Garden

**Disclaimer: I simply own Kaya Toya.**

Yess, finally another chapter! Been a while, eh? Well enjoy this quickly-written-explaining-why-it-sucks new chapter of CT&D!

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Lunch. It's a time to hang out and talk with your friends, or maybe even eat with your boyfriend or girlfriend, that is, if you had one.

"Kaya, shouldn't you be walking over to Marui's classroom?" Kaede asked. I turned around and shook my head.

"He said he's come here." I said.

"Kaya, can I ask you a question?" Kirihara asked. I looked at him.

"Sure, Kirihara."

"Okay, where's your lunch?"

I froze.

"Don't tell me you forgot it again." Kirihara groaned.

"I'm so sorry!" I whined.

"Why are you sorry?" Yamouri asked. "You didn't hurt us, you hurt yourself."

"Yamouri!" Kirihara scolded. "Kaya, I can buy you lunch again." He tried. I shook my head and watched Yamouri take out her lunch and Kaede do that same.

"It's fine." I said. Yamouri held her lunch out to me.

"Here." She said. I blinked. "Take it." She ordered.

"Yamouri, I couldn't."

"I'm not hungry anyways, just take it." She barked, not even trying to sound kind in the process. I took it and she turned towards Kaede.

"Thank you, Yamouri." I gently said, not knowing what to do next. She looked at me and smiled slyly. I looked at the neatly wrapped box she had given me. She was acting kind to me for some unknown reason. I didn't mind though, she was pretty cool. Wait, if she's pretty cool, why am I going to spy on her date with Kirihara?

Cuz Niou convinced me, err, I didn't listen to myself say 'NO'

Oh well.

Marui came walking in through our door and he waved at me.

"Well, have fun, Kaya." Kirihara said, smiling before he turned around to talk to Yamouri. "I'm going to buy a school lunch again." He said, then he stood and left before Marui reached us.

"Hi, Kaya." Marui said. I smiled. "Hey, Yamouri, Kaede."

"Hi, Marui." They said together.

"So, are you ready to go, Kaya?" Marui asked. I stood up and grabbed Yamouri's lunch.

"Yeah." I chirped. I waved at Yamouri and Kaede, who smiled and gave me a thumbs up sign. Well, at least there's nothing to be worried about, Marui is just my friend. I have to remember that. We walked out of the room. "The stairs to the roof is this way." He said, pointing down the left hallway. "It's way down there, but when you think about it, it's not that far." It sounded like he was babbling.

"Oh, okay." I laughed.

"Kaya, what did Niou say to you at break?" I jumped and took a few steps away from Marui, just in case. "I mean, he just told me he was going to see you and then he took off."

"H-He just apologized." I assured him. "It was nothing else, though I didn't want to forgive him, I somehow did."

"You're such a kind person, Kaya." Marui labeled. I jumped and blushed. He misunderstands. I'm actually not that kind, well, actually the word to describe me is stubborn.

"You're wrong, Marui! I'm not kind in the least. Marui is much more kinder than me. You offered to help a new student around school and you even look after me." I protested. He looked at me and that adorable light pink tint was there again. "Ah, I never thanked you properly yet."

"You don't need to thank me!" He quickly said. I looked at him with a confused look. "I'm just glad I get to help you, Kaya." He fumbled out of his mouth. Then he jumped and looked around the empty stairs we were now climbing. "W-What I mean is--"

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked. He was really jumpy and fidgety. He's usually not like this; it's a bit strange that I'm curious. He took a couple of deep breaths and eventually smiled at me.

"I'm sorry, Kaya." He said. When we reached the top of the stairs, he opened the door for me. "Here is our rooftop garden." He said in a gentlemanly manner. I walked through the door and gasped.

"It's so beautiful!" I said breathlessly. There were tons of flowerbeds with different color of various flowers in one flower garden. The many flowerbeds went together perfectly that it felt like you were in a meadow. I ran over to a flowerbed that had tons of purple flowers in it. "Are these forget-me-nots?" I questioned, inspecting them.

"Are they your favorite?" Marui asked, walking over to me. I nodded quickly and smiled. After a while, he took my hand. "Let's go this way." He said, gently pulling me. I couldn't stop smiling. This place was so pretty. After going through many rows of different flower beds, we came to a large area that had many different seats and in the middle, there was a pavilion with a dainty table under it. "They hold many concerts up here." He said, pointing towards a large stage on the right of the area. We ran over to the pavilion.

"Are we eating here?" I asked, anxiously. I noticed there were only two chairs at the round white table. He turned towards me and shook his head.

"We're eating over here." He said, running back into the flower garden, still pulling me. We past more flower gardens and we finally reached a meadow with fake grass.

"I-I didn't know the school was this large." I stammered, realizing how far we must've ran. This rooftop garden wasn't like a rooftop garden, it was like a huge endless meadow. "Oh, where are we eating?" I asked. He pulled me on the fake grass and I saw a yellow picnic blanket laid across a small section.

"We're having a picnic." Marui said, sitting down, without releasing my hand. I blushed deep red, now realizing we were holding hands. Not to mention about the whole picnic thing. I quickly sat down next to him and sat Yamouri's lunch on the blanket when he released my hand. "Usually no students come up here during lunch, so we should be fine."

"Really? I would've thought that a lot of students come up here." I said. He took out his homemade lunch and smiled.

"Well, this is Yukimura-bunchou's favorite spot, so sometimes he and Sanada-fukubuchou eat up here." Marui shrugged, like it was nothing. Two boys eating up here? Well, I guess they are teammates. He opened his lunch, revealing omlettes. "Aren't you going to open the lunch Yamouri gave you?" He asked. I jumped.

"Oh, right." I mumbled, starting to open it. I wonder what kind of food Yamouri made for lunch. "Oh, hey, Marui, wasn't Yamouri suppose to give you a cake?" I asked. Marui nearly spit out his food.

"Uh, yeah she told my friend to give it to me." He replied, slowly, wiping off his mouth. "It was really good!" I flinched as I took off the cap.

Inside the food actually looked delicious but then again, I bet everything she makes looks really good. She had cooked white rice with those little octopus weenies with some meat put to the side. Inside was a note. "Huh?" I took it out and opened it:  
**Idiot! I knew you'd forget your lunch again. It was just a feeling. **

I blinked and re-read the note over and over again. Yamouri knew I was going to forget my lunch again? I closed my eyes and buried the paper into my pocket.

"What's that?" Marui asked. I opened my eyes and saw him leaning towards me. I jumped and shoved my food in his face.

"Look at what Yamouri made!" I failed miserably at changing the subject, so I was surprised when he let me.

"Oooh, that looks really good, Kaya!" Marui cooed. Then he stuffed his face more. I started eating too. It's nice to not eat American food for a change, though American food is good, but mom just cooks it way too much. "Kaya, want some of my food?" Marui asked out of no where. I turned towards him and he was smiling at me. "I made it myself, so it's really yummy!" I nodded and he took some and fed it to me. I blushed, not knowing what to do, but open my mouth. The first thing I noticed was how soft the egg was, then the spices and herbs kicked in.

"Marui, this is really delicious!" I squealed. I knew though a guy could cook this well. He smiled and nodded.

"I told you, it'd be yummy. I'm confident in my skills." He boasted. Usual boys who are full of themselves are annoying, but Marui manages to make it adorable.

"Then, here, have some of mine." I said, feeding him some too. He ate it, well, practically gulped it. I blushed, realizing what we were doing, aren't lovers supposed to be feeding one another. My face blew up as I looked down.

"Yamouri's food is good!" Marui cheered. "Next time, I want to try your food, Kaya." He added. I nodded, but avoided his eyes as I continued eating. "Hey, Kaya, what's your favorite television show?" He asked.

"Mm, I like 'Kamen Rider Double,' that's my favorite show!" I said, starting to fangirl from just thinking about the show. Then I shook my head clear and smiled.

"Oh yeah, I watch the new episodes every Saturday!" Marui replied. My smiled grew. He liked the same show I did.

"This is definitely my favorite season." I laughed, as I continued eating. There was more silence.

"Kaya, what's your favorite kind of books?" Marui asked.

"Let's see, I like manga, but if I ever read anything, it has to be romance." I replied. Yeah, I'm big on the romance stuff, though it may not seem like I like that stuff.

"Really? Manga and fad novels are my favorites." Marui replied. I turned and smiled at him. His food was already almost gone.

"What about music?" I asked. He looked up, like he was choosing very carefully.

"I like Orange Range." He finally answered, stuffing his face big time. I took a big bit of my food, too. I wanted to be finished by the time he was finished also. "What about you?" He asked, still taking big bites.

"I like Abingdon Boys School and UVERworld." I shrugged. Annnnd I liked boy bands, oh well.

"I like the song 'Jap' by Abingdon Boys School, it's in that one anime, what is it called?"

"'Sengoku Basara'" I told him.

"Yeah, that's it!" He laughed.

"I only heard one song by Orange Range and that's 'O2' from Code Geass." I said, trying to remember how it went. He turned towards me and smiled.

"You like anime, I'm guessing?" He asked. I jumped and blushed/smiled. I put my arm behind my head and looked around the small field.

"I do." I giggled. We both finished our food and stacked them on one another.

"Kaya, wait here." Marui said, standing up and disappearing into the many flower gardens. I sighed and brushed my hand through my hair. It seems like everything is going well. He soon reappeared with his hands behind his back.

"What are you doing?" I asked, with a bit of fear. I hope he didn't have any water and he was planning on squirting me. I sat up on the blanket as he ran over to me. He sat down in front of me and smiled.

"Here, Kaya." Marui said, bringing out both hands and showing my a single purple forget-me-not. "Your favorite flower and your favorite color." I blushed as I reached for it. Is this really happening? Did Marui just give me a flower? I wanted to hit myself to make sure this really was real. The beautiful flower seemed to burn my hand, but the good kind of burn.

It's hard to believe that Marui and I have only know one another for only one day.

Marui and I locked eyes for a very long time.

"Thank you, Marui." I stuttered.

"Marui, I--"

"Kaya, I--"

We both had talked at the same time that we both had to stop. His adorable pink tint was back and I could feel my blush become visible. Things were awkward, but this awkward wasn't one a person would mind, it was the good kind of awkward, you know? I stared at the flower that Marui had given me. He's so sweet.

"Kaya, you should know--"

"Wait, Marui, I want to talk first."

Marui and I were acting shy, like we just met. He nodded for me to go ahead and I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to speak.

Then the bell rang.

I jumped, forgetting all about us being at school. "Oh, uh, I guess we better get to class." I said, chickening out. He looked at me and nodded. We both stood up and he picked up our lunches. Then we started walking towards the door. "T-Thank you for bringing me up here. I really like the garden here, it's beautiful." He just kept looking down at the ground.

"Yeah, it is." He mumbled. I sighed. Maybe I shouldn't have made things awkward like that. Maybe if I act normal, things might become normal again.

"So, Marui, which class do you have next?" I asked, looking for any kind of subject change.

"We have Science next." He said. I think he wanted things to go back to normal too. "Aw, I don't like Science, it's so difficult to understand!"

"Yeah, Science is my worst subject too." I sighed. We finally reached the door and he opened it for me again. "Actually, I've never failed a class."

"Whoa, lucky." He said. "Oh wait, you're a nerd." He teased. I smiled, things felt better, though the flower still burned my hand.

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Okay, I know that most of the things weren't even made when this story takes place, but I still put it in there, so yah, sorry.

Anyways! Thanks for reading Chapter 7! ^^  
Review, please?


	8. Kaya's Options

**I'm sorry it took so long for me to finally update, but I have no internet where I live and all, so yeah. I'll keep trying to post them ASAP, thank you for reading my story! ^^  
Disclaimer: I merely own Kaya Toya.**

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I'm an idiot.

I kept telling myself as I smiled at Marui's coy smile when we reached my classroom. "Well, thank you for lunch, Marui. The rooftop garden was really beautiful." I chirped, bowing.

"Maybe we could go up there again." Marui's voice was shy, but there was definitely confidence in his tone. I opened my mouth to speak, but…

"Ah, Marui, there you are!" That recognizable voice came from behind me. Why must Niou always show up? Can't I spend at least one hour of my free time in peace without seeing him? "Oh, Kaya is here too, even better." Niou's hand landed on my shoulder and I took a deep breath. "Marui, Yukimura is getting out of the hospital in another hour. Sensei said that we could go, if we wanted, since it's Yukimura." Then Niou looked at me and smirked. "I won't be going, however, so I think you should go, Marui." Niou slyly offered.

"Yukimura-bunchou is getting out early?!" Marui perked up. I blinked as I saw his eyes sparkle. I mean, sure, Yukimura is their all-superior, Child of God captain, but don't they also fear him? I sure as heck know Kain does, despite their obvious age difference. "I'm so going!" I blinked and tried to hide my smile from Marui's excited cuteness.

"You'll have to get a pass from sensei. I'm sure he'll give it to you since you are passing all of our classes." Niou simply said.

"Don't tell me you aren't passing your Music class." Marui teased. Niou put his hands up in the air like he was being caught in the middle of stealing something. "Dude, it's the easiest class that we can take, what is wrong with you?" Marui laughed.

"Well I'm sorry I'm not gifted with music. I'm really good at tennis though." Niou replied, sticking his tongue at Marui. I sighed and walked away from them and opened my classroom door.

"I'll see you later, Marui, have fun visiting Yukimura." Then I glanced at Niou who smirked. Should I say bye to him? Nah, I walked in and closed the door behind me and glided over to my seat. As I neared, I saw Yamouri, Kirihara, and Kaede talking enthusiastically.

"Hey, guys, how was lunch?" I sang. They all looked up at me and Kaede pulled up another seat as Yamouri grabbed me and sat me down.

"We have 5 minutes before class starts," Kaede started.

"So tell us every detail about lunch with Marui!" Yamouri commanded. I blinked and pressed my back against the chair, not wanting them so close to me.

"I think I'll use the restroom." Kirihara murmured, making his exit. I wanted to stop him, because I didn't want him to feel awkward; but I figure that Yamouri will cheer him up at their date.

"So tell us!" Yamouri said, pushing me lightly, bringing me back to reality. I looked at her beautiful, flawless face and wondered how Marui didn't ask her instead of me.. Well, Marui and I are just friends, I know, but still.

"Well, uhh," I diverted my eyes from her eyes that were pressuring me. "Oh yeah! Yamouri, thanks for the lunch!" I said, looking out the window.

"Yeah." She said quickly. "You. Marui. Date. Explain now." She ordered. I didn't want to explain, so I had to find a way to bind time. I looked pitifully at Kaede who was smiling nervously in the background. She jumped and slowly nodded her head, hearing the thoughts in my head.

"Yamouri, maybe you should give Kaya time for it all to settle in.." Kaede tried. I cocked my head to the side, not understanding. "Maybe the date wasn't as great as you think and Kaya doesn't wish to recall it."

"Kaede, you're sweet, really, but it was great." Yamouri said. "I mean, look at the flower that Kaya has in her hand." I jumped and remembered the flower that Marui had given me. I lifted my left hand and saw the purple appear. I should have hidden it or something. Great.

"Okay, I did not see that flower." Kaede remarked, smiling and leaning towards me along with Yamouri. So, Yamouri recruited my only hope for survival. Ahh!! "So, Kaya, did Marui give you that purple forget-me-not?"

"You know that kind of flower, Kaede?" I asked, searching for anything. I sighed with relief as she answered.

"Of course, I work at a flower shop." Kaede answered proudly.

"What?! No way! You have a job?" I questioned, completely forgetting everything else. "I didn't know you could get a job in middle school."

"Well, it's my mom's friends shop, I just help her out. I don't get paid or anything." Kaede said, smiling.

"Wow!" I remarked.

"Girls! Seriously," Yamouri interrupted. Kaede and I both looked at her with questioning faces. "Kaede, we were still questioning Kaya." Kaede jumped and nodded.

"Yamouri, why do you want to know so bad?" I asked, closing my eyes and leaning back in the chair. "I mean, I really don't have to tell you if I don't want to. It's my personal experience." I opened my eyes and saw Yamouri start to get angry. I jumped and put my hands up. "Okay, I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" I gave up. I tried to act tough, but honestly, Yamouri scares me. "Well, first of all, Marui came to pick me up from my classroom, you know?" Yamouri made an annoyed noise as she rolled her eyes.

"I know that, Kaya, I was here when that happened." Yamouri reminded me. Kaede stifled a laugh. She checked her watch and held up one finger in the background. Thank goodness I have Kaede to watch out for me. We wasted four minutes avoiding the subject and…

"Yamouri, I have to ask you a question." Kirihara interrupted, apparently back from using the restroom. Oh my gosh, this couldn't have worked out any more perfectly!! Yamouri grunted as she stood up and flattened her skirt.

"Don't think this is the end of our little chat." She said in a tone that would usual be used as threatening. I feigned being scared of her until she left the room with Kirihara. I turned, excitedly, towards Kaede

"You are so lucky Kirihara came and took her away." Kaede pointed out. "Or maybe not." Kaede took out her phone and her screen read 'message sent to Kiri'

"Oh, Kaede, you're the best!" I hugged her and she laughed.

"It won't buy you much time though, did you forget?" Kaede questioned, us both pulling away from the hug. "Cooking class is next, so you know what that means." It took a while to put the pieces together; when I finally got it, I gasped.

"She's my partner." I uttered. My face fell and I moaned. "How could I have forgotten that!?" Kaede held up a hold on sign and walked up to the teacher. I blinked as I watched her talk to Fukawa-sensei. What was she doing? He shook his head, but she smiled and kept talking; soon a smile appeared on his face and he nodded. What the--?

The bell rang, so class was officially starting. Our classmates all started filing into the room and it soon became filled. Kirihara and Yamouri were one of the last ones to come back in.

"Class, Kaede has given a good explanation for what we shall be doing instead of cooking." Fukawa-sensei said; the class was all ears. "We should go with class 2-C to sketch outside." The class cheered and grabbed their pens before bolting out the door.

"See, not so hard." Kaede laughed, walking back to her desk to grab a pencil. "It's a win-win situation. No partners and we get class outside."

"Kaya, I'll walk with you to the outdoor garden." Kirihara said out of nowhere. I jumped because I had no idea he was anywhere near me. Kaede grinned and I shot her a look to be quite. I turned around and saw Kirihara standing by me.

"Sure, Kiri, thanks." I smiled.

"Let's go, Yamouri." Kaede said, walking past us and grabbing Yamouri's arm and dragging her out of out classroom. Yamouri looked around like she had no clue what was going on, but I know she just didn't want to leave Kirihara and I alone.

"Shall we go now?" Kirihara asked. I glanced around the classroom, noticing we were the only ones in here. When did they all clear out? Maybe they're just excited for sketching. Wow.

"Yeah." I muttered, as we left our room and started down the hallway. "I'm glad the day's almost over; it's been so long." I said, trying to start a conversation.

"I know what you mean, but I still have a date with Yamouri, so I probably won't get home until late." He replied. Oh I forgot about the date, poor guy. Well, Yamouri is really beautiful, so I guess he isn't so poor. Plus, I honestly think they are a cute couple, if they were a cute couple, soooo, they look cute together.

Thinking about Kirihara and Yamouri's date made me think back to Niou. I had to spy on their date with him. Oh, why did I agree to it? Why?!

"Are you okay, Kaya? You seem troubled." Kirihara asked, observantly. I jumped and shook my head a little too much then needed. I think that kinda gave it away, dang.

"Sorry, just lost in thought. So, Kiri, I heard you have a tennis tournament coming up." I said, remembering what Marui had told me this morning.

"Yup! I'm excited to play. Will you come cheer us on, Kaya?" Kirihara asked, smiling like crazy, making him look like an adorable little boy. I gave him a thumbs up and smiled back at him.

"You know it. I've never really watched tennis before, so I'm excite to see what it's about." I explained. "Where's the tournament at, anyways?" I question, thinking about the small area I know around Kanagawa. If it's outside that range, I'll probably end up getting lost.

"I'll tell you what, Kaya, I'll meet you at school early Sunday morning and we can go to the tournament together. That way, you won't get lost." Kirihara laughed. That sounds like a good plan, seeing as how I'm almost positive I won't get lost with Kirihara.

"Sure! That sounds fun!" I said, happily.

"Then after we win, the team goes out for dinner together, and I'm positive you can come too. I know Marui, Niou, and Yagyuu would be delighted to have you come. I'd be euphoric." Kirihara smiled kindly and I blushed. He's so, so sweet. After a moment of silence, Kirihara said, "So, Kaya, given any thought to what club you wish to join?"

"Oh, no I haven't." I replied, remembering Niou and Marui asking me the same thing yesterday. We started walking down the stairs to the outside, where our class was.

"Well, the boys' tennis team could use a manager." Kirihara said so lowly that I was barely able to make out what it was he said.

"Me? A manager?" I repeated, picturing it in my head. Sure, I'd be closer to Marui, Kirihara, and everyone else, but one the other hand, I'd be closer to Niou and I don't know about that. Then again. I'd be needed by them, but I'm not good at taking orders. The way I see it, no. "It's not really me." I said, not wanting to hurt his feelings. "Maybe the cooking club." I tried, thinking back to Marui's suggestion.

"You do know that Yamouri is the president of the cooking club, don't you?" Kirihara informed. I took a deep breath.

"Or not." I finally said. Well, that squashed my only option.

We finally reached the nice, grassy area, near the back of campus, where a ton of students were, half from our classroom.

"Or maybe art club?" Kirihara offered. I stared at the kids holding canvas and bending over their latest masterpieces. Kirihara pointed towards a girl near the back, with long orange hair. She looked really, really into her work, because the only part of her body that was moving was her drawing hand; she didn't even look like she was breathing. "Mika Aoyagi is the art club president."

"Kirihara, Toya, you two are late!" Fukawa-sensei yelled. Everyone with their canvas's looked up at us and I felt embarrassed. I glanced at Mika; she was the only one who wasn't looking at us. "Grab a canvas, take a seat, and start sketching." He said, walking off to watch his students who were already drawing. Okay, they call it sketching, but it's still drawing, so I call it drawing.

"Let's go sit by Mika." Kirihara whispered, grabbing two canvas's and walking towards her. I was forced to follow. "Hello, Aoyagi." Kirihara said in a happy voice. She finally looked up and when she saw Kirihara she smiled and blushed. Oh, I get it, she's one of his admirers. Great. "May we sit with you?" He questioned.

"Of course, Kirihara." She said, sliding over a bit. We both took seats on the bare grass; then he gave me my canvas and I took out my pen and looked around. What is there to draw?

"Aoyagi, this is Toya Kaya, she's new to this school." Kirihara said. I heard my name and look at Mika, who was smiling warmly.

"Pleased to meet you, Toya." She said.

"She's looking for a club to join." Kirihara informed her. I sighed and saw the tree we at under, in the distance. I'll draw that! I put my pen to the paper.

"Oh really? Well, the art club is always looking for new recruits, Toya." Her gentle voice wasn't enough to pull me away from drawing. "Please stop by one of our meetings after school sometime." I nodded, but didn't look at her.

"Okay, thank you, Aoyagi." I said.

"You seem to be really into your drawing." She giggled.

"Yes, when I'm determined for something, I won't stop until it's finished." I laughed like a silly little kid.

"That's a very admirable trait. It's very important in an artist." She remarked.

"What are you drawing, Kaya?" Kirihara asked. I felt him lean over to see my canvas, but when he was close enough, he made a mocking sound. "What is _that?_" He stifled a laugh. I quickly looked up and saw him covering his mouth with his hand. Aoyagi look questioningly at him then at me.

"It's a tree, Kirihara!" I fought. I held up my canvas so Kirihara could see my drawing again, but that did it, he busted out laughing. How rude.

"Um, that's a tree?" Mika asked, inspecting my drawing. "Perhaps you're not finished?" I shook my head and pointed at the tree in the distance.

"I'm finished." I protested. Still, Kirihara laughed. I noticed Yamouri and Kaede look back at us and I could tell they were wondering why Kirihara was laughing so hard.

"Kaya, that looks like a deformed fish." Kirihara laughed, gasping for breath. I pouted. "Not even a pretty fish, it's like a weird-looking tiger fish."

"Kirihara, it's not nice to criticize other's work." Mika tried. I saw her trying not to smile. I put down my drawing and sighed.

"Just laugh, Aoyagi." I said. She started laughing with Kirihara. Okay, so I'm no gifted in art; let's just say I suck, and that's an understatement.

Soon, it was time to start packing up and heading back to the classroom. Kirihara and Mika were still talking about nonsense, but I didn't bother trying to listen, I was too busy helping class 2-C putting away their supplies. Yamouri and Kaede were helping too.

"So, what was that about?" Kaede asked, looking back at Kirihara. I shrugged. I don't feel like telling them about my funny drawing. "Hm." Was all she said. "Yamouri, can you pick up the box filled with pastels and colors?" Kaede asked. Yamouri nodded and went to get it. "So, what did you draw, Kaya?" Kaede asked, like she already knew the whole story.

"I, um, well," I started, but saw Yamouri struggling to pick up the box. "She's weak." I mumbled.

"Huh?" Kaede questioned, turning to see what I was looking at. "Oh geez." She lifted it a little before a tall boy came up from behind her and picked it up for her. Kaede and I scooted a bit closer.

"Let me help you with that." The boy said, smiling down at Yamouri. I elbowed Kaede, who 'sssh'd me.

"Oh, thank you." Yamouri replied, smirking. "My name's Kesaki Yamouri." The boy must have been in class 2-C because he seemed about our age, with his messy brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Hirofumi Ren." The boy said. I felt myself blushing for her. "I never thought class 2-D had any pretty girls." He looked Yamouri up and down. Did he imply he wasn't too impressed with Kaede and I? Maybe I just attract tennis boys. Oh great.

"You're really muscular, aren't you?" She asked, totally ignoring his compliment.

"I work out everyday." He agreed.

"Oh, nice." She said, then started back towards us, totally leaving him. Kaede and I felt our jaws drop. Did she just ignore that very attractive guy?

"Hey, what's up with you two?" Yamouri asked when she reached us. Kaede and I exchanged unbelieving looks.

"Yamouri, did you not see Hirofumi?" Kaede asked, watching him disappear into the school building. Yamouri yawned and looked into his nails.

"Yeah, he helped me that's all." Yamouri laughed. "Anywho, let's get inside, it's starting to get chilly out here." I guess Kaede and I were forced to leave the subject like that, because we all started walking into the building. "Kirihara is spending a lot of time with Mika." Yamouri said bitterly. Do I sense something here?

"Jealous, Yamouri?" Kaede teased.

"What? No way." Yamouri remarked, as we entered our school once again. "Kaya, why is he with her?"

"He was just talking to her about art and art club." I said, feeling useful. Yamouri crossed her arms and looked out the window.

"Okay then. So anyways, I planned the perfect outfit for my date with him tonight." She said wearily. She looked at me and I cocked my head to the side. I keep forgetting about their date, but it always seems like they won't let me. "We're going to eat, then we're going to the mall to look around for a bit." She said. I huffed, why is this somehow annoying me?

"Oh, sounds fun, Yamouri." Kaede said absentmindedly.

"Kaede, we should double date sometime. Me and Kirihara and you and Yagyuu." Yamouri said, still eyeing me.

"Can't. Yagyuu is usually busy everyday, practicing or studying." Kaede said, fiddling with her fingers.

"So, the only times you two spend together is during cram school?" Yamouri asked. Kaede nodded with embarrassment. Yamouri kept looking at me, like she was trying to get me jealous, and really, listening her talk on and on about Kirihara kinda actually did make me jealous.

The bell rang and we ran all the way back to our classroom to our final class: Japanese. Aka, my worst subject. I groaned as Fukawa-sensei didn't even lecture and just gave us an assignment.

~.::.::.::.::.::.~

The bell rang once more, letting the whole school know that the day was over. Finally! I turned in my assignment and started gathering my things.

"Kiri! Where shall we meet at?" Yamouri said rather loudly. Kaede gave me a here-we-go-again look and I nodded. Kirihara, sitting in front of her, looked back and then at his fingers.

"Let's just meet at the restaurant." Kirihara said, standing up and putting some books in his bag. Yamouri giggled and twirled around, her long hair captivated everyone. They all looked at her and stared. "I better get home to get changed. I'll see you later, Yamouri. See you two tomorrow, Kaya, Kaede." Kirihara said our names when he looked at us and smiled. He started off towards the doors, but then turned back around and smirked at me. "Tiger fish trees!" He mocked , walking out the door. Yamouri and Kaede both looked at me when he was gone.

"What was that about?" Kaede asked, in a bit of a monotone. I looked down at the ground and blushed.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said. Then I realized: I have to meet Niou at the drama room. He said it was by the gym, but I don't even know where that is. "Hey, Kaede, can you tell me where the gym is?" I asked quickly. I finished putting my things away and was ready to go.

"Why are you in such a rush, Kaya?" Kaede asked, easily seeing through me. Yamouri studied me cautiously.

"I better get home too. I'll see you two tomorrow." Yamouri finally said, waving and smiling before leaving. Ah, I needed to meet Niou as soon as possible, so we don't fall behind Kirihara and Yamouri.

"Shouldn't you wait for Marui to come by and pick you up?" Kaede questioned, making a face like it was obvious, well, it was, but still. Wait, she's right. Aw, what am I going to tell Marui? I can't walk home with him because I'm going to spy on Kirihara and Yamouri's date with Niou. Not likely. "This is about Niou, isn't it?" Kaede read my mind again.

"You need to stop doing that." I mumbled.

"Doing what?"

"Reading my mind."

"So I was right." She countered. I let out a sigh and nodded my head vigorously. "I thought you couldn't stand him, why you acting so smitten?" I gasped.

"Okay, ew! We just have plans, and since I'm such a good person, I won't bale on them." I explained.

"Kaya!" Marui's voice was easy to tell apart from the crowd of second year students all talking about their plans for the rest of the day. "Ready to head home?" He asked. I looked around nervously. I wanted to walk home with Marui, but…

"Marui, where's Niou?" Kaede asked, throwing me off.

"He dashed out of the classroom when the bell rang. I think he said he was going to the drama room. That's kinda his favorite place. Y'know, with all the costumes and him being a trickster and all." Marui said like it was totally normal.

"Wait, the drama room?" Kaede repeated. "Oh my gosh!!" I blushed, I knew what she was probably thinking. Me and Niou in an isolated room together…. Alone. Yeah, it looked bad, but that's not was we were planning on doing!!

"Kaede, um, I'll tell you about it later, okay?" I said, cautious, so Marui won't be suspicious.

"Ew, no thank you, I don't wanna know about it." She said in a disgusted tone.

"It's nothing like that!!" I huffed.

"Umm…" Marui added shyly.

"Sorry, Marui, I can't walk home with you today, I have plans." I said reluctantly. "I'll see you tomorrow morning on our walk to school, right?"

"Oh, it's fine. Okay, then, I'll see you, Kaya. Have a nice day." Marui said, waving and starting to leave. Urgh. I don't want him to leave, especially since I won't see him for the rest of the day.

"Marui!" I said, walking after him. I hugged him and blushed when he hugged back. When we released each other, he smiled and waved before leaving.

"Nice." Kaede said, giving me a thumbs up. "So, the drama room is near where we had our art class. As soon as you get there, you'll see a big building and that's the gym, and there's a small building by it. That's the drama room." Kaede explained. "Have fun, see you tomorrow." She said, smiling and waving too.

"Thanks, Kaede." I said, grabbing my stuff and leaving the room. Aw, man, I'm already late for our little rendezvous. I wonder if Niou would be angry. Eh. I ran downstairs and down to the little outside garden area. Let's see. A big building. Big building. Bingo! I walked over to the gym and as I approached it, I saw a smaller building, which I assumed was the drama room, so I walked over and stood outside the room. You ready for this, Kaya? Actually spying on your friend's date with a guy you cannot stand.

_Wrong, if you couldn't stand him, you wouldn't be going with him to spy. _A voice in my head kept repeating to my annoyance. I just had to shake it away from now.

I reached for the handle, but before I made contact with it, the door opened and a girl was standing before me.

Wait, what? Shouldn't Niou be here?

"Oh, there you are." The girl said. Huh?? "Idiot, this is Niou." She, err, he said.

"W-What?!" I questioned, looked at him up and down. He doesn't look like a guy one bit!! Well, except the fact he was still wearing the boy's Rikkai uniform. He was wearing a dark brown, wavy wig and his eyes were the same, it looks like he put on a little make-up. What the heck, he's really dedicated to his tricksterness, isn't he? He even sounded like a girl, not one bit of any masculineness. "You're kidding."

"You're late, Kaya, c'mon." He said, still sounding like a she, pulling me into the room. He closed the door behind me and grabbed a few things before turning back towards me. "Since we're going to spy on Kirihara and Yamouri on their date, I figure we should look like a couple too. But, they'd recognize us, so we should switch genders for the night." He said, messing with my hair. "They'll have no idea it's us."

"You sound like a girl, it's crazy." I replied.

"As I said, the perfect disguise." Then he smirked.

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**Well, that was chapter 8, nya! Hope you enjoyed it && please review ^^  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed my previous chapters ^^**


	9. The Perfect Disguise

**Disclaimer: I merely own Kaya Toya.**

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"Taada!" Niou said, taking my hand and leading me to the dressing room. The drama room was really small. It had a couple of desks and couches, but there was a lot of space. I guess so the kids who come in here can act out their scenes.

The dressing room was to the far left of the room, but when we went in, it looked way bigger then it did outside. I never though a school could have so much costumes,

"Let's see, could you make your voice go a little deeper?" Niou asked. I stared at him, wondering if he was really serious or just playing around. I narrowed in on, he's being serious.

"Not quite." I said shyly. I can't believe I have to the boy is this relationship. I let out a little laugh. That sounded funny.

"What?" Niou asked. Oh, I didn't say that line out loud so I must look like a loser, laughing for no reason. I shook my head and in his normal voice, said, "We need a wig, some stage make-up, and boy clothes for you." I blinked. He can really switch his voice perfectly. He sat me down in a nice lounge chair and walked into the sea of costumes. "You want to go as a pirate?" Niou teased, showing me a pirate outfit. I made a face and looked away.

"Oh, yeah, sure, and you can be a princess." I replied, seeing a big, puffy, pink dress hanging up. He reappeared and pointed at me sternly.

"I have been one before, don't mock me." He said, seriously. Then he disappeared again. I stifled a laugh. Niou, a princess? I would have loved to see that. "Kaya, go into the make-up room and pick out a wig." I stood up and quickly saw a door that said 'make-up room.' Well, that was easy.

"Okay, but I don't know much about anything about this stuff." I said, going over to the door and opening it.

"It's fine, just pick a boy's wig and try it on." He said. I sighed as I walked in. There were 4 mirrors against the far wall and the tables were all bare. Let's see, where would the wigs be? I checked the big self to the right. Ah, there they are. I saw many wigs all aligned up neatly. I picked up a dirty blonde wig and compared it to me, without putting it on. This wouldn't really match. I put it back and picked up a light brown one. This one doesn't fit me either. Next, a bluish-black one. This one is okay.

"Kaya, how are you doing?" Niou asked, walking into the make-up room with a pile of clothes in his arms. I looked at him and he dropped the pile of clothes on the floor neatly. "I'll fix your hair a little better." He said, walking over to me and touching my hair. I was still holding the bluish-black wig and he saw. "Are you going to wear that one?" I looked down at the wig and shrugged.

"I guess so." I said, closing my eyes and relaxing. He put my hair in a hair net and turned me to look at him.

"Beautiful." He muttered. I blushed and quickly turned away. I was wearing a funny looking hair net and he still compliments me? "Here." He took the wig from my hand and put it on me. Niou was really good at this kind of thing. "There." He turned me towards the mirror and my jaw dropped when I looked at myself.

"I look like a guy." I complained. He patted me on my back.

"You're supposed to look like a guy, Kaya." Niou laughed. I pouted and kept staring at myself.

"This means I have a guy face." I whined, looking closer into the mirror. Niou grabbed my face and lead it close to his.

"I think your face is incredibly cute." Niou whispered. I felt his breath on me and I blushed again before pushing him away. Stupid trickster makes me blush so easily. "So, maybe you don't need any make-up." He said, walking back over to pick up the pile of clothes. "I grabbed a few clothes that I thought might look good on your guy-form."

"Niou,"

"Huh?"

"Are you going to wear a skirt?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow. He laughed and picked up a long, black skirt that was a bit ruffly.

"Looks like it." He huffed, putting it against his body. "Hey, Kaya, you're a girl, so what color shirt should I wear?" I studied him for a moment.

"Blue, so it'll match your eyes." I finally said, walking over and picking up some boy clothes for me.

"Oh, so you like my eyes?" He asked. I hide my blush and threw some random clothes that I wasn't going to wear at him. "I'll go change." He said, walking out of the room and closing the door. I sighed and started to change out of my uniform and into the boy clothes. So here I am, getting ready to spy on Yamouri and Kirihara's date.

I picked clothes that were dark colors so you couldn't really tell I was a girl. Urgh, at least I'm not that feminine. I quickly put the clothes on and folded up my uniform and put it in my bag neatly.

"Uh, Kaya, I need your help." I heard Niou say through the door. I tried not to laugh as I opened the door. My laugh instantly stopped when I saw Niou standing near the costumes without his shirt on. I felt myself turn a bright red and immediately diverted my eyes. "Help me put the skirt on. My body is too manly for it." He teased.

"Niou, just put it on." I ordered. He chuckled and smiled at me. "I'm going to wait outside since I'm already done. Come out when you're done." I said, walking past him and back into the drama room and through there to get back outside. As soon as I got outside I saw that campus was completely deserted. Everyone must be at practice or after-school tutoring. I took out my phone and texted Kane, telling him that I won't be home till late again.

Would this be considered Niou and I going out on a date? Since we're spying on one, but together. Is that considered one? Well, I definitely won't tell Kane that I'll be going with Niou because that would either a) make him angry, or b) make him tell mom and dad and he'll probably invite Niou over for breakfast again. Urgh, he better never do that again.

Maybe this morning I was angry at Kane, but acted like I was angry at Niou.. Maybe? Nahh, I was angry at Niou. Wait, if I was really angry, why did I let him recruit me for this date spy thingy? Great, now I don't even know my true feelings.

"Oh, Kaya!" Niou said, rushing out of the drama room and meeting me outside. I was leaning against the building and looked over at him when he came out. He still sorta looked like a girl, and the outfit was very girly. No one would ever suspect a guy wearing that outfit. "You look cool." He said in his girly voice that still freaked me out. "Now, try your manly voice." I put my hands up and shook my head.

"No, I told you, I can't do that." I protested.

"Just try it." He pleaded. I took a deep breath and tried my best.

"Hey, are you ready to go on our date?" I tried. He started laughing hard in his normal voice. "I told you I can't!" I cried, using my feminine voice. He didn't stop laughing. "Screw you."

"No, no, Kaya, that was very good." Niou said after his laughing stopped. "I was expecting worse. You have a man voice too!" He gave me a thumbs up and I smacked him lightly. He grabbed his cheek, but still grinned. "So are you ready to go, Kai?" He said. I guess my guy name is Kai.

"Sure am, Haruhi." I replied, teasingly. We both started off for the main gate, which we could see in the distance. Niou grabbed my hand.

"Let's hold hands." He smirked. I took my hand away from his.

"Let's not." I countered. Then, the image of him, shirtless, popped into my head and I turned red again. Why did I have to see that? We kept walking in silence and I kept avoiding his gaze.

"So, are you hungry?" He asked. I shrugged and continued to stare at flowers we were passing. I had put the flower Marui gave me in my bag. I hope it doesn't get squished.. "Cuz they're eating at a nice restaurant."

"Really." I mumbled.

"Yeah, you know this is Kirihara's first date, so he wanted it to be special." Niou said. That caught my attention. I looked up at him. Kirihara wanted that?

"He's so sweet." I found myself saying. Niou looked down at me with eyes that looked like they read hurt. "Wait, does he like Yamouri?"

"Does Kirihara look like the boy who would go out with a girl who he didn't have feelings for?" Niou answered my question with another question. He didn't give me a straight answer, so I can't tell what he meant by that. Maybe he meant he did like her; but then again, he said it in a tone that was kidding. I was going to ask what he actually meant when Niou said, "Why do you care?" He asked, eyeing me carefully. I jumped and tried to smile, but it came out kind of crooked.

"Just wondering. I mean, Kirihara and Yamouri are my friends, you know?" I offered and Niou accepted it. Finally we reached the main gate and past it, meaning we're officially out of school. We, then, started off towards the restaurant. I had no clue where it was, but Niou did, so I just followed him. I did notice that it was in the opposite direction from the way Marui and I walk home, though.

"I'll pay for the meal." Niou said after a long pause. "We might as well eat when we're watching them."

"So," I started, thinking back to what I was wondering when I was waiting for him. "is this a date, too?" I asked, shyly.

"Yeah, it is. Excited? Your first date at a new school is with me." Niou said, happily. I rolled my eyes as he put his arm around me.

"It's basically a date with a girl named Haruhi." I mocked, eyeing his skirt and long haired wig. "Not to mention, the 'girl' I'm on a date with is way taller then me." Niou laughed and removed his arm.

"When we sit, I'll sink down low so you can look taller." Niou tried. I lightly elbowed him and he laughed again. "This will be really fun, I can't wait." He said. "Let's run to the café."

"What? No." I quickly said in a rush. "How far away are we from the place?" I asked, noticing we already walked pretty far in such a short amount of time.

"It's not that far from the school. Since both Kirihara and Yamouri live fairly close to the school." Niou explained. "You want to stop by Kirihara's house?" Niou teased. I glared at him and he shut up. "It'll be about five more minutes." I nodded and saw a lot of cars passing us on the road. The people seemed to be staring at Niou and I. Well, we did look a bit funny. A tall girl and a short boy walking together. Not to mention our faces looked opposite of each other. Oh yeah, totally weird.

I checked my phone and saw 2 new messages. Hm. I checked them quickly.

**From Kane: What? Again? It's the only the second day of school and you already have a busy schedule. Well, okay, I'll tell mom and dad, I want to hear about this 'top secret' thingy that you're doing when you get back home!**

Oh, Kane, you know I'll never tell you. I smiled and checked the next one.

**From Marui****: Hey, what's the pythagorean theorem?**

I smiled.

**To Marui****: Silly, Marui! a^2+b^2=c^2 :)**

I clicked the send button and turned my phone to vibrate.

"Why does Marui's name have a heart next to it on your phone?" Niou asked, startling me. I blushed and almost dropped my phone. I had no clue he was leaning over me the whole time.

"I-I-I just put it there since Marui was so nice to me that first day!" I made up a lame excuse. Niou rolled his eyes and put his finger on my forehead.

"I bought your first excuse about Kirihara and Yamouri, but this time, I want the truth." Niou said. I blushed, wondering if I should just tell Niou..

Hell no! He's a trickster, so you can never trust him 100%. Heck, he might even tell Marui since they are in the same class.

"Um, Niou," I quickly looked around for something else to say. Something that is reasonable and not embarrassing. Then something yellow caught my eye. "Huh." I murmured, seeing Yamouri in the yellow dress. "Look, it's Yamouri." I said, pointing towards her. Niou quickly looked and completely forgot about interrogating me. Thank goodness!

"She looks beautiful." Niou said after a long silence. I jumped and looked between them.

Yamouri did look really pretty. Her yellow dress was a halter top that ends just above the knees. It had a splash of a different color with light green in the middle that was tied into a little bow. The dress complimented her perfectly. She also had her hair braided to the right side. I've never seen Yamouri outside of school, so I wonder if she usually gets dressed up in general or just for her date.

"If Marui saw her like this, maybe he'd fall for her too." Niou said, making me blush and instantly become jealous. Though I tried to hide it. Wait, did he say too? Who else fell for her!

"Oh." I managed to say as we walked closer to her. She was walking towards the restaurant, which we could now see. It was fairly similar to the cheesecake factory.

"Marui likes girls who wear cute things, such as dresses and bows." Niou explained. I blinked and took a deep breath. "What do you usually wear, Kaya?" He asked, making it sound like a perverted question.

"I wear skirts too." I huffed avoiding his eyes. "Let's follow her." I said, walking towards her.

"Use your man voice, Kai." Niou teased. I forgot about that, well, he must have too because he wasn't using his girl voice either. We saw Yamouri enter the café and we both exchange looks. "You ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I said, before feeling my phone vibrate. "Oh, hold on." I said, taking out my phone and checking it.

**From Marui****: Ooh, I got it, okay, thanks, Kaya!**

I smiled and closed my phone and put it into one of the pockets in the black boy jeans I wore. "Let's go." I said, using my manly voice. Niou laughed in his girly voice, which sounded creepy, by the way. We walked towards the restaurant and opened the doors, walking in together.

"Hello, please take a seat anywhere." Worker girl said, as soon as we walked into the door. I looked around and saw it was a one large room. There were booths to the side and tables in the middle. It had a nice atmosphere. The walls were painted light brown with little shelves holding trinkets spread across here and there.

We quickly saw Yamouri sitting in the left corner of the restaurant; in a booth.

"Let's sit right here." Niou said, walking towards a booth to the right side about caddy-corner to her. She was looking at the menu patiently. He got in first and I sat across from him, but I couldn't see her. "Sit by me, Kaya, err, Kai." Niou whispered.

"But-"

"You'll see them better if you do." He insisted. I sighed and went over and sat by him. It felt awkward when you think about it, but I decided to focus on Yamouri.

"Hello, may I get two anything to drink?" the previous girl asked, walking over to us. I looked at Niou, who smiled warmly at the girl.

"Two teas please." Niou said. I blinked and the girl took off. "You did want tea, right?" He asked like it was obvious.

"Uh, yeah." I said a bit startled. Did Niou know me so well after just one day? Well, these days sure have been long lately. "So, where do you think Kiri is?" I questioned. Niou shrugged and played around with his menu for a bit.

"He's probably still getting ready. He doesn't know what to do for these kinds of things." Niou mocked. I rolled my eyes and felt Niou's handing reaching for mine. I moved it and he made a face. "You should've been Kirihara's first date; bet he'd like that." Niou laughed. I glared at him for teasing Kirihara so badly. I bet Niou didn't know what to do either on his first date.

"Oh be quite, Niou." I said.

"You're standing up for Kirihara?" Niou said, instantly quieting down. I studied him, wondering what he was up to. I nodded. "Looks like my little Kaya has a crush on Kirihara!" Niou said, pulling me in and hugging me. I blushed and pushed him away and hit his shoulder.

"I do not! He's my friend, so I simply stood up for him. Don't get the wrong idea, trickster." I hissed. He put his hands up and I looked away from him, my gaze running right into Kirihara. He just entered the restaurant and was looking around for Yamouri.

"There's our target." Niou whispered, elbowing me. I elbowed him back, but harder. I grinned when he yelped in pain.

Kirihara was wearing dark green/black pants and a greenish-blue polo shirt. I saw Yamouri wave at him and he smiled as he walked over to her. I exchanged glances with Niou and he simply nodded.

"Here are your drinks." Our waitress said, budding in and cutting out our view.

"Uh, ah, thank you." I said as she set down our drinks and took out her writing pad thingy. I strained for a peek at Yamouri and Kirihara, who were already talking.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked, politely. I looked at Niou and he looked at the menu really quickly.

"Two… uh, club sandwiches." Niou said, picking the first thing he saw.

"Coming right up." She said, taking our menus and walking off.

"Ooh, so this is a café." I said, clapping my hands together, finally getting it. "A nice café."

"Ssh." Niou said. I pouted when I looked at him and opened my mouth to speak when,

"Kiri, I'm glad to finally came. I was about to order before I starved!" Yamouri laughed, watching him squirm around restlessly. Niou and I watched them secretly, so if they saw us, they wouldn't think we're staring at them, though we kinda were. Yamouri was sitting towards us and Kirihara had his back towards us, but I doubt Yamouri would notice us.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for being late. My big sister was bothering about what I was wearing; I don't know." He said, opening his menu and never breaking eye contact with Yamouri the whole time.

"I think you look cute, Kiri." Yamouri giggled, reaching out and touched the collar of his shirt. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell be was blushing.

"Thanks, Yamouri, you look," He turned away and looked towards the waitress. "amazing." I felt myself blush even though he wasn't talking to me.

"Wow, Kirihara is quite the nice guy." Niou teased, smirking. I gave Niou a sideways glare, but he either ignored it, or didn't notice.

"Oh, thanks, Kiri." Yamouri said, obviously flustered. Kirihara turned back towards her as the waitress approached them.

"I assume this is the boy you were waiting for, ma'am." She said, eyeing Kirihara, then Yamouri.

"Yup." Yamouri giddily said.

"So, what may I get you two to drink?" Waitress asked.

"Raspberry tea." said Yamouri.

"Water, please." Kirihara said. I gave Niou a strange look when their waitress went off to get their drinks. I mean, water is kinda a strange thing to order for a date.

"Kirihara drinks water to calm him down." Niou explained, like he was reading my mind. "Maybe he's nervous." I pouted and felt a sting in my chest just hearing that Kirihara is nervous to be with Yamouri.

"How cute." I mumbled, nudging Niou to make him scoot over, since he was closely nearing me with every second. He grinned and I backed away from him, to the extent of me almost falling off the booth chair.

"So, Kiri, how was your day?" Yamouri asked, cocking her head to the side, obviously acting cute around him. Kirihara sighed thoughtfully, trying to think of how to answer.

"Aren't you all in the same class?" Niou whispered-asked me. I turned to him and nodded. "So she should already know how his day was…"

"Nervousness, Niou, all people get nervous on dates." I explained like it was obvious, well it WAS obvious.

"So are you nervous right now?" Niou purred, scooting closer again. I pushed him away and glared before turning my attention back to Yamouri and Kirihara.

"It was pretty good," Kirihara chuckled, averting his eyes. He looks like a lost, innocent little kid. The waitress waltzed over to them and delivered their drinks and took out her usual pen and paper.

"They don't seem to be talking about much." I heard Niou pout. "I thought I'd be able to hear something juicy."

"You're just like a girl, you know that?" I laughed. Niou coughed and signaled for his dress and long-haired wig. Oh, right. "Well, still, maybe it'll heat up, most dates are slow at first."

"You talk like you know all about dates; like a dating expert." Niou pointed out. I jumped and looked at him smirking, with his elbow on the table and his hand supporting his head. "Have you ever been on a real date before?" I looked back towards Yamouri and Kirihara, who were ordering and questioning the waitress about how what-and-what tasted like and so on.

"Uhm, no." I muttered.

"Then leave the dating knowledge to me." Niou said, simply, making me feel like a complete noob at this stuff. 'Yeah, cuz playboys know ALL about dating, don't they?' I wanted to remark, but figured it'd be better if I didn't.

"Okay, your order will be right up." The waitress chirped before she left and went into the kitchen.

"Hey, Yamouri, I was wondering…" Kirihara started as Yamouri took a drink of her raspberry tea. She made a noise that showed she asked what. He looked down at his lap and took out a folded paper-thingy from his pocket. "Maybe we could go to an amusement park sometime." He handed her the paper and she put her drink down before she took the paper.

"Oh, wow, this is the new park that's opening in Tokyo in a few of days." Yamouri said, burying her face in the pamphlet.

"Yeah, my dad was part of the planning of the park, so he got me two tickets for me and guest to get in for free!" Kirihara gushed out all at once. Yamouri slammed the pamphlet down when she heard his sentence.

"For free! No way!" She exclaimed, making most of the café turn to look at her. She blushed and buried her face in the pamphlet again. "Kiri, I'd love to go with you, if," She looked around like people were spying on her. Well…. "If you don't plan on taking someone else." Then she winked and I turned to Niou, who just shrugged.

"We'll keep the idea open." Kirihara laughed, nervously, like the idea of Yamouri's underlying message made him nervous to his stomach. I took a drink of my tea as I listened to their argument about who would win their next matches for tennis. I tuned in and out of their convo, but perked back up when I heard them mention Marui's name. "I don't think Yukimura-bunchou would pair Marui and Jackel up for an easy match like this. Maybe Marui will be paired up with Niou."

I turned to Niou, who looked down and started whistling like he didn't hear them.

"But doesn't Yukimura have to take out one of your players?" Yamouri asked, playing with her straw.

"Yukimura-bunchou probably won't play." Kirihara answered. "Unless he has enough faith in us to win before he gets the chance to play."

"Oh I see…" Yamouri murmured, finally taking another drink.

"Here are your orders, two club sandwiches." Waitress said, setting down our plates right in front of us. "May I get you anything else?" She asked sweetly. I shook my head and she took off. I looked down at my food and realized I wasn't even hungry. I turned and saw Niou digging in like he hasn't eaten in such a long time.

"Uh, pig?" I teased, sliding my plate over to him. He took it without a word and continued eating.

"So, Yamouri, how's your little sister?" Kirihara asked, after looking in his lap again. Yamouri turned away for the first time and made a face.

"Annoying as always; how's your older sister?" Yamouri replied.

"Ehh," Kirihara made the same face Yamouri did.

"At least she's giving you advice about things." Yamouri tried. Kirihara smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so, but I don't need advice from her when I have you." Kirihara said back without even hesitating. I blushed and glanced at Niou, who dropped his food and stared forward at Kirihara and Yamouri. Whoa… I never thought Kirihara would say something like that on a first date.

Then Yamouri giggled, like a guy saying that on the first date is totally and completely normal.

"I'll always be here for you." Yamouri answered. I slouched in my seat and felt myself leaning against Niou's shoulder. Did they just imply they'd be together, forever? Isn't it too early for something like that! I felt my face heat up as I witnessed the beginning on Yamouri and Kirihara. I touched my forehead and looked down. I saw the waitress come over to them and give them their food.

"Can we leave now, Niou?" I asked, finally looking up and seeing him reaching for his food slowly.

"No, this is really heating up!" Niou laughed, winking at me and bringing up my word as he started eating again. "They're kids, they don't know what they're saying." Niou shrugged.

"Niou, you're only a year older than them." I hissed, poking him.

"A year is still older." Niou teased, sticking his tongue out at me.

"Just eat your food!" I ordered. He laughed before he returned to eating. I looked over to them and they were eating too. I took out my phone and opened it. 4 new messages.

**From Marui****: Umm, Kaya, what are you doing on Saturday? That's the day of our first tennis match, but I found out that I'm not going to be playing. **

**From Marui****: So I was wondering if you wanted to go to the matches with me? I know I won't be playing, but I still want to go, since it's my team; and I don't have to be there early, like usual, so I could go with you… if you want…**

**From Kiri: Um, hey, Kaya, I was wondering if you have ideas for things to talk about on a date?**

**From Marui****: But if you don't want to go with me, it's perfectly fine, I mean, I could go by myself if you're busy on Saturday. **

I smiled at Marui's messages. He must have got scared because I didn't text him back that fast. Kirihara's message was just adorable as well. Dang, my friends are just amazing.

"Why are you smiling?" Niou asked, making me jump. I didn't even feel the smile spread across my face.

"Oh, uh, nothing…" I muttered, turning away from him and started texting my reply to them.

**To Marui****: I'm sorry, I put my phone on silent. So you won't be playing? I wanted to see you play :(**** But, I'd be happy to go with you to the matches :)**

**To Kiri: Aww, just try talking about… what your favorite television shows or what kind of music she likes, maybe even about books. I'm not very good at this either, sorry.**

I put my phone away and watched Kirihara eat. Wait, that sounds really weird. I saw him take out his phone immediately and open it. I smiled, knowing that he was reading my message.

"So, Yamouri, what kind of television shows do you watch these days?" Kirihara asked, putting his phone away. I stifled a laugh. He's actually taking my advice. I took a drink and try and swallow the laughter back down.

"You know, the usual anime show. The ones that are mostly well known." Yamouri answered, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"What about music?"

"Anything that is catchy is fine." She replied, wiping her mouth.

"And books?"

"I don't really read much." She said. Kirihara looked back down as he took a drink of his water. That didn't seem to last that long. He looked back up and resumed eating. Hmm. I checked my phone. One new message.

**From Kiri: Thanks, Kaya; that kind of worked. Haha.**

I pressed 'reply' when Niou reached over and took my phone out of my hands. I reached for it and he put it in his pocket.

"Ah, Niou, give it back!" I whined, crossing my arms.

"No texting at the table." Niou said in a stern, motherly, kind of voice. "Who was it?" He looked at my phone and I blushed. "You were texting Kirihara?" Niou smirked and I turned away. What a meanie!

"Hey, you look absolutely stunning; I just couldn't resist the urge to talk to you."

Niou and I both froze as he, with effort, turned to see a really handsome boy standing at Yamouri and Kirihara's table. Yamouri was looking up at him and was blushing and Kirihara looked up, then quickly looked away. This can't be happening.

"You two aren't together, are you?" He asked, looking between Yamouri and Kirihara. Kirihara glanced at Yamouri and crossed his arms.

"No, we're not." Kirihara murmured. Yamouri leaned forward and stared at Kirihara. I looked and Niou, who was speechless.

"Great, so, what's your name?" The boy asked, watching Yamouri, who was flustered by the attention, but she was focused on Kirihara.

"Umm, Yamouri Kesaki." She said, finally bringing her gaze up to the boy.

"My name is Ken Haruto." He introduced. "You just look so beautiful." Yamouri blushed again and wrote something down on her napkin and gave it to him.

"Call me later." Yamouri said, winking. He nodded and walked off. When he was out of sight she turned to Kirihara. "Kiri, are you alright?"

"Why would you give a guy your number right in front of me?" He asked, refusing to look at her.

"Kiri, I gave him a fake number so he'd leave." Yamouri replied. "Are you jealous, Kiri?" Yamouri teased, sitting back and crossing her arms. Kirihara looked up.

"I'm not jealous!" He yelled. Yamouri, me, and even Niou recoiled from Kirihara's harsh attitude. "I just, I just, I dunno."

"Does Kirihara Akaya like Yamouri Kesaki?" Yamouri asked, more to herself then him. He jumped and looked away. "Relax, Kiri, I'm kidding." She laughed. He looked back at her and she smiled. "You're cute when you're jealous." You could see a slight blush on Yamouri's face, but you'd have to really look to see it.

"You really do look stunning." Kirihara mumbled. Yamouri jumped and put her hand behind her head. "Excuse me." Kirihara said, standing up and walking towards the back of the café. Niou nudged me really hard.

"Ow! What?" I snapped, turning towards him.

"Kirihara's going to the bathroom." Niou said. I blushed and made a face.

"I don't care." I hissed. Does Niou think I'm a pervert! He hit my head. "Oww!"

"Kaya! Follow him!" Niou replied. I blushed and flicked his forehead. "Not like in a stalker-way, but I mean, you're dressed as a guy, so you can use the guy's restroom." Niou said. Ohemgee! He's right! But, I don't want to see Kirihara using the restroom, um, ew!

"But I don't want to." I uttered, looking down.

"C'mon, Kaya, take one for the team!" Niou said, before pushing me out of the booth. I took a deep breath and he gave me a thumbs up.

"You own me." I growled before I started walking towards where Kirihara was. There was a sign that said 'restrooms' with an arrow by it, so I simply followed the arrow. Wow, this is gonna be awkward.

I opened the door and entered the dimly lit, elegantly decorated bathrooms. The bathrooms look nicer than the outside! There were three mirrors with sinks and in the middle one was Kirihara, staring at himself in the mirror. I walked over to the mirror on the far side of the bathroom and looked at myself too. Niou did a good job with his guy disguise.

Every once in a while, I snuck a glance and Kirihara, who just kept looking at himself, then washes his hands, dried them, then looked at himself again. It seems like something is bugging him.

"Hey." Kirihara finally said. I jumped and slowly looked at him. Could he have figured me out already! "May I ask you for some advice? From guy to guy?" I jumped and looked back into the mirror. Oh no, what should I do? I can't reject him; but I can't give him advice cuz I'm not actually a guy!

"Oh." I caught myself begin to talk in my normal voice. I quickly changed my voice to the one that Niou said would fool everyone. "Oh, yeah, sure." I said, manly. Kirihara turned towards me and I just kept looking at myself, but looked at him from the mirror.

"How would you make a girl like you as more than a friend?" Kirihara asked. I jumped and hide my face as I blushed. He's so adorable! I covered my mouth and quickly wiped my hands with the paper towel. Now how do I answer that one? Hmm…

"Be sweet and funny, but don't overdo it; try to be cool and calm." I replied, fidgeting as I threw the towel away. Then I added a nonchalant shrug. I turned and saw Kirihara nodding. I smiled at him.

"Okay, sweet and funny. Got it. Cool and Calm." Kirihara looked down at the ground. "Thanks." He said. "What's your name?" He asked the dreaded question. I jumped and looked around the room.

"Oh, um, my name is…" I saw some foreign items in the room. "Call me Kai." I said, looking at the ceiling, remembering what Niou called me earlier.

"Oh, well hello, Kai; my name is Akaya Kirihara." Kirihara said, extending his hand to me. I shook it and bowed my head. I can't let him see my face close-up or he'll surely recognize me. "So, I'll take your advice; thanks, Kai." Kirihara said, cocking his head to the side as I quickly backed up from him.

"I-I better get going; my date's waiting." I said. It feels really weird to call Niou 'my date' but that's what he is, isn't he? Well, for pretend, of course.

"Oh, right. Well, thank you again." Kirihara said. I turned away and quickly retreated to Niou. I walked fast back over to him and when he saw me he perked up.

"Hey, how did it go? What was he doing?" Niou asked as I saw down. I looked over at Yamouri, who was checking her phone. I wonder if Kirihara really does like Yamouri… If he did, why would he ask that question, I mean, doesn't Yamouri already see him as more then a friend? "Kaya, I'm talking to you." Niou pouted.

"Ah, oh, uh, nothing." I lied, not looking at him. Soon after, Kirihara came out of the bathroom and took his seat across from Yamouri.

"Sorry for taking so long." Kirihara said, smiling at her. Yamouri put her phone away and smiled back. Her food was all gone, but he still had half of his plate still there.

"You okay, Kiri?" Yamouri asked, leaning towards him until the table stopped her from going any further.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Yamouri." Kirihara assured her. He put his hand through his messy black hair and it seemed like his eyes sparkled. Eh? "Sorry about that." He said. Yamouri nodded and took a deep breath.

"Well, excuse me, now." Yamouri said, getting up and walking towards the restroom.

"It's my turn!" Niou said, starting to push me out of the way. I glared at him.

"I don't trust you, you pervert." I hissed and Niou smirked as he retreated. I leaned back and saw Kirihara looking around the café. It seems like things are finally relaxing again. I sighed. Then Niou put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him, making me blush.

"We have to act like we're a couple." He whispered in my ear. I rolled my eyes and pushed him away. Finally, I put my arm around him, making things feel awkward.

"Guys put their arms around girls; and I'm the boy in this relationship." I laughed. He smiled and leaned against me, like how girls usually do. Okay, this was weird, and I have no clue why, but I was enjoying it. We kept watching Kirihara waiting for Yamouri. He was fidgeting around like a little boy.

I looked down at Niou and saw his face less then a few inches away from mine. He smirked and came a little closer.

He said, "Do you want to kiss me, Kaya?" He whispered, making my body tingle as he kept getting closer and closer. I was completely frozen.

"Hey, Kiri, let's go for a walk now." Yamouri's voice broke the scene between Niou and I. I quickly turned towards Yamouri, who was standing next to the table. Kirihara stood up and nodded .

"Sure, lemme go pay, first." He answered, then they both disappeared in the hallway. I pushed Niou off of me and still felt my face burn.

"Yamouri has bad timing." I heard Niou mutter as I stood up. I just ignored him and turned away from him.

"You ready to go, then Niou?" I asked. He sat up and slide out and stood up next to me.

"Yeah, I'm ready." He replied, dusting off the dress. I tried not to laugh. The dress still looks funny on him. "Are we going to follow them on their walk, too!" Niou asked excitedly. I shook my head.

"You can, but I've had enough of this Yam-hara pairing for one day." I made air quotes around 'yam-hara'; Niou made a sad face , but I glared at him. He tried to kiss me, then now he's trying to make me feel guilty. Something's wrong with him. "I'm going home."

"At least let me walk you." Niou offered.

"Nah, I'm good." I replied, "Make sure to pay for the food." Then I walked out of the room and out of the building. Well, it actually was fun spying on Yamouri and Kirihara, but I'd never say that to Niou cuz he'd probably think I had fun with him. I can't believe I almost let him kiss me.

At least if anyone was watching, they won't know it was me: Kaya Toya. They'd think it was just a girl trying to kiss her date… and her date rejecting her… Oh great! So if anyone was watching, they'd think I was a total jerk! Rejecting a girl (Niou) though it wasn't actually a girl. These costumes are starting to get confusing now.

"Kaya, what are you doing?"

I jumped and saw Kaede standing in front of me. She was still wearing her school uniform. She must have just got done with school activates.

"Kaede!" I yawned, hugging her. "Wait, how'd you know it's me?" I asked, pulling away from her. She shrugged.

"I just guessed; so why you dressed as a guy, anyways?" She asked, eyeing my costume cautiously.

"It's too much to explain; I'll explain tomorrow during class; so could you help me right now?" I asked, begging her. "I'm lost, so can you show me the way to Rikkai?"

"You're hopeless, you know that?" She teased. I nodded vigorously. "That way." She pointed the direction which she was walking from. "Just a few more blocks. Better hurry and get home; it's starting to get dark; don't get lost!" She warned. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kaya."

"Thanks, Kaede; see you!" I called, before running towards Rikkai. Hopefully I can find my way home from there. Maybe I should have let Niou walk be home; since I really am hopeless with directions.


	10. Jealousy & Tutors

**OMG! I made it to 10 chapters! Amazing! Well, thanks for reading up till now ^^Thank you sooooo much.  
Disclaimer: I merely own Kaya Toya  
Enjoy!**

* * *

"Oh, I understand; so you spied on Yamouri and Kirihara's date yesterday with Niou." Kaede reviewed everything I explained to her. "That's why you dressed up as a guy. Clever." Kaede concluded. I nodded; glad she understood.

All that happened yesterday. After I bumped into Kaede, I went to Rikkai, but I got lost from there, so I didn't get home until about 8 o'clock. It was very tiring. I was going to ask people for directions, but I don't even know my address or the street we lived on. So, I almost called Marui to ask him for help, but I didn't want to disturb him anymore. Thus leaving me for fending for myself. The most important thing is, I eventually made it home!

And of course, Kane yelled at me for be the clueless person I am.

Then this morning, I met Marui again, but it was totally normal and a bit awkward.

Now, I'm sitting with Kaede, explaining the events of yesterday. Well, most of the events…

"That sounds like it'd be fun!" Kaede giggled, startling. "The important thing is that today is Friday! Our first weekend of the school year." Kaede clapped her hands together and turned away from me. She seemed to be in her own little world. "What are you gonna do this weekend?" She asked. I jumped and blushed. I put my hand behind my head when Kaede turned back towards me. "Well?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but…

"Good morning!" Yamouri's voice was abnormally cheery as she entered the room and walked towards us. Kaede waved at her, but glanced at me. Kaede probably thinks things will be awkward between Yamouri and I after the spying game yesterday. Well, I'll prove her wrong.

"Morning, Yamouri! So how are you doing on this fine Friday morning? You seem cheery! I know; let's have lunch together!" I poured out everything that first came to mind. I jumped up and put my arm around her.

"Uh…" Yamouri uttered. Kaede tried to smile at us. I gave Kaede a look asked 'was that over the top?' She nodded in response. I backed off of Yamouri and she rolled her eyes at me. "Anywho, on the way to school today, I heard some gossip." She leaned closer to us and checked around the room, like people were eavesdropping on us. "About the tennis team." I leaned back in my chair and Kaede stood back up and shrugged.

"Yamouri seems to think about the tennis team endlessly." I remarked.

"What!" She hissed.

"I agree." Kaede added. Yamouri glared at both of us before sitting in her desk behind the empty desk right next to me.

"Fine, I won't bother telling you." Yamouri growled, a deadly aura radiating from her. All this from telling her the truth? "Oh look, Kaya finally brought her own lunch today. Let's give her a round of applause!" Yamouri sarcastically stated. She slowly clapped once, but her eyes read boredom.

"Are you mocking me!" I hissed, making a fist.

"Let's make today the best day of the year." Yamouri then smiled sweetly that made me think she looked like the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.

"Ah! I'm blind." Kaede laughed, covering her eyes and staggering backwards. "Yamouri's angelness is so bright!" Yamouri and I then started laughing at Kaede. Well, her angel aura is way better than her deadly aura.

"It's only the third day of school and you're gonna make it the best day?" Kirihara added, breaking our girl time. I didn't even noticed him come into the classroom. He set his bag on his desk and sat down, facing me. I blushed, remembering him yesterday. I quickly avoided eye contact.

"Kiri!" Yamouri said out of shock. Then she leaned forward in her desk and gazed at him. Kaede smiled and leaned on her desk again.

"Good morning." Kaede cheered. She glanced at me again. I tried smiling at her, but I think it failed. I wonder if they'll bring up anything about their date yesterday? I'm not going to ask them about it, but I really want to know.

"Good morning, Kaede, Kaya," Then he looked back at Yamouri and smiled, "Yamouri." I flinched. Why does she get a special smile from him? Oh well… "Hey, we have a tennis match tomorrow! Are you all gonna come?"

"I'm totally coming!" Yamouri said it right away.

"I'm going too." Then Kaede blushed.

"Did Yagyuu ask you to come?" Kirihara asked, picking up on Kaede's body language. She jumped and nodded like a child. It was cute. Then Kirihara looked at me. I avoided eye contact again. "Kaya?" Now it was my turn to blush.

"Y-Yeah." I smiled and brought my hand up to touch my cheek.

"Marui ask you?" Kirihara guessed. I heard Yamouri made a noise, and I looked up at her. She hugged Kirihara's arm.

"Kiri asked me to come last night~" Yamouri sang. I flinched again. Did he? I don't remember him asking her to come, but maybe he asked her when I tuned them out. Kirihara looked at Yamouri and she nodded. "Just as friends, though. We decided being friends is the best option for us." Yamouri added, smiling. I jumped and Kaede gasped. That's what they concluded.

"What…? Why?" Kaede asked. Kaede punched me without even looking at me. Yamouri and Kirihara saw her punch my arm and they were going to say something, but they decided to answer the question at hand.

"Kiri and I like other people." Yamouri sniffed like it was so bad, but she didn't look sad or anything. Last night, didn't they say they'd be together forever? Well… they didn't say it, but it was implied. Besides, when Kirihara asked me that question when I was 'Kai,' wasn't he talking about Yamouri? Or was he talking about the other girl he likes?

"Ah, Marui?" Kaede asked. Yamouri smiled and nodded. I jumped and looked at Yamouri. Niou annoyed me when he said that Yamouri is the type of girl that Marui would fall for. Yamouri glanced at me, but then she looked back at me.

"That's a scary look, Kaya." Yamouri laughed. I jumped and cocked my head to the side. She pointed to the area between her eyebrows. "Did you not notice your glare?" I blushed from embarrassment and turned away from all of them. Great. I was just unknowingly glaring at Yamouri after she said she like Marui. Well, I already knew that, but still, when she opening confesses it, it irks me. "That makes us rivals, huh, Kaya?" I looked down at my desk. "Unless you fall for another guy." There was a slight pause and I saw Kaede half-smile out of the corner of my eye. "Like maybe Niou."

"Like hell I'd fall for Niou!" I screeched, standing up and facing them. Yamouri and Kirihara backed up and had a looked of terror on their face. My face turned red again. That made it sound like I really hate Niou. Well, he did try to kiss me. That little-

"Okay, okay, I got it." Yamouri replied, clearly amused. "Hey, so did I ever tell you guys that I made an account online?" I said back down and took a deep breath.

"Account?" Kaede questioned. Yamouri nodded and pointed her finger in the air.

"It's on a video uploading site related to the school. It's a site only Rikkaidai students can use. By students, for students." Yamouri cheered. I don't like where this is going. "So I'd like to recruit all of you to help me for my first video. I've got a fantastic idea." She clapped her hands together and made a face that made me believe her idea was to take over the world.

"So what's your idea?" Kirihara asked. Yamouri opened her mouth, but quickly closed it and took out paper and her pencil.

"Secret, but I'll give all of you a list of things I need from you." Yamouri said, already busy writing. I sighed and gave Kaede a worried look. She returned it.

"Okay, class, let's begin our lesson now." Our teacher said. "Roll call." He said, taking out his paper as he called our names.

"I'll give you the paper by our break." Yamouri whispered, not looking up at us.

* * *

Math is soooo easy, and so is English. I leaned back and looked at Kiri, who was frozen in place. Poor Kirihara never stood a chance against it. I smiled and he looked at me and smiled back. I froze and quickly turned back towards Kaede.

"Taada!" Yamouri jumped up from her seat, scaring all of us. "I'm done with the lists." She torn them apart and gave a piece of it to each of us. "I know you can all the things on list, so please do it, for me? I really need this." She begged. It seems rare to see Yamouri beg.

"What! Yamouri, that's really difficult for me!" Kirihara burst.

"Just try, Kiri." Yamouri whined. He straightened up and looked back down at the list.

"Ehh? But, Yamouri-" Kaede started.

"Kaede." Yamouri cut Kaede off with a puppy-dog face. The same as Kirihara, Kaede was helpless. I looked down at my list.

_Things from Kaya Toya:_

_Niou._

_Marui._

_Keys to the Drama Room [from Niou]_

"You're kidding, right, Yamouri?" I asked, totally straight-faced. Yamouri shrugged.

"Well you do have those boys wrapped around your finger." She remarked.

"What are you implying!" I hissed.

"Hey!" Niou interrupted our budding argument. I jumped when I heard his voice. We all turned towards the door and saw Niou and Marui. I pulled the small paper over my face and I heard Kaede giggle.

"Ah, Niou, Marui!" Yamouri smiled. They walked towards us. "So, will you two help me with my future video on the school video site?" Yamouri asked.

"Oh, sure!" Niou replied instantly.

"Sounds fun." Marui added. I looked at her.

"Niou, could I use the keys to the drama room when we film it?" She went on.

"Yeah, of course." Niou answered. She looked at me with her bored eyes.

"Kaya's list: complete." Yamouri yawned, leaning back. I huffed. Isn't it supposed to be my list!

"Hey, Kaya!" Niou said, I jumped and looked up at him. He winked and I crossed my arms.

"Hi, Niou." I replied rather coldly. Marui looked at me, but was scared to say anything. Should I be nervous with him around because of tomorrow? I'm busy worrying about Niou and his playboy-ness, so…

Wait… did I say I was distracted by Niou so I couldn't pay attention on Marui? What's going on!

"So, Marui, I heard you aren't playing tomorrow." Yamouri observed. Marui turned towards her and I sighed.

"Oh yeah, I'm not." Marui laughed. "I'm going to the matches with Kaya tomorrow." I jumped when I heard my name. "It's a date." Marui said shyly, looking at me. I blushed and smiled as I looked away from him.

"Date?" Niou intermitted.

"Oh no, Kaya." Kaede whispered to me. I gave her a confused look.

"I didn't know you and Kaya were going on a date tomorrow." Niou said, clearly upset.

"Eh?" I muttered.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I asked her yesterday." Marui replied, looking at the ground. Niou glance/glared at me.

"She was with me yesterday." Niou blurted. I almost fell out of my seat. Then all eyes were on me.

"You were with Niou yesterday?" Marui asked. I blinked, wondering what to say. I could tell him that we were only together to spy on Yamouri and Kirihara's date, but they're right here, so they'll get angry. But if I don't, he'll get the wrong idea and, and…

These few seconds felt like hours of torture. I have no clue what to do. Why did Niou have to-

"No, she wasn't. I said that out of jest." Niou murmured. Ehh! "Sorry, Marui." Niou looked at his classmate and smirked. "Anyways, I hope you two will have fun tomorrow." I leaned back out of relief, but accidentally fell out of my seat.

"Kaya!" Kaede warned before the great fall. My head hit the wall since my seat was right by the window.

"Oww." I moaned, grabbing my head and sitting up.

"Seriously, you're so clumsy." Yamouri teased. I crawled back up to my seat and glared at her.

"Well, we'd better get back to our classrooms." Niou said, tugging Marui along. "See you underclassman later." He waved and Marui made a quick wave before Niou pushed him out of the room.

"That was super close, Kaya!" Kaede whispered only for my ears. I sat up and gave her a pity look. I can't believe Niou!

* * *

"Kaede, you're such a genius when it comes to the Violin.!" Yamouri gushed as we walked back from the music room. "I'm so jealous of you."

"Thank you, Yamouri." Kaede giggled. "I can't believe you've come so far on the Guitar." Yamouri blushed and Kirihara put his hand on her shoulder.

"You are good, Yamouri." Kirihara complimented.

"Thanks, Kaede and Kiri." She mused. "Kaya is getting good with the Piano as well." She chirped. She's in a good mood again.

"Huh? Oh, thanks, Yamouri." I said absentmindedly.

"Something wrong, Kaya?" Yamouri questioned. I shook my head. "What's bothering you?" Like heck I'd tell Yamouri my problems. "Oh, thinking about Marui." I blushed.

"W-What? N-No." I refused. "Not everything is about the tennis boys, Yamouri." I tried saying the same thing from this morning.

"Yeah, only the interesting things are." Yamouri shrugged and returned to Kirihara and Kaede. I pouted. Only the interesting things? …She's right.

"Next is history." Kaede said. "My favorite-"

"My least favorite-" I added, trying to fit in with them.

"Subject." Kirihara finished for us. "I thought you didn't like Japanese, Kaya." He said.

"Well, Japanese is my enemy subject, I just don't like History." I stated.

"How could you have trouble with Japanese?" Yamouri mocked.

"Now, now, Yamouri…" Kaede put her hands out to calm her down and it actually worked. "Let's just get to class so we can learn." I exchanged looks with Yamouri and Kirihara.

"Nerd!" We all called Kaede in unison. She smiled and stuck out her tongue. We finally reached our classroom and took our seats. Good thing we all sit right next to one another. Fukawa-sensei came into the room right after us.

"We got an invitation to join class 2-C in PE." He said. The class cheered. "I'll take that as a yes." He laughed. I turned towards Kirihara, who was the loudest during the cheer.

"Kiri, you like PE?" Kaede asked. Kirihara was practically jumped out of his seat. He nodded vigorously.

"Well, today they're playing dodge ball. So let's go beat them." Fukawa-sensei ordered. A second cheer from the class. Afterwards, many kids bolted out of the classroom, Kirihara being one.

"Wow, PE." Yamouri yawned as we all stood up and followed our class to the auditorium. I remember where it was at. It was near the Drama room. Oh great, memories of Niou again.

"Class 2-C again?" Kaede said. "We'll get to see Hirofumi again." She gently nudged Yamouri, who giggled and shrugged it off.

"I only like Marui." She replied like it was obvious. I made a fist, but painted my smile.

"Wow." Kaede remarked. "So, Kaya, you any good at dodge ball?" I jumped and shook my head.

"I've only done good in one whole game my whole life." I explained.

"That's laughable." Yamouri smirked.

"What!"

"Don't worry, with me on you're team, you won't lose." Yamouri said, flipping her hair. Why was she so cocky?

"Last year, Yamouri was the dodge ball champ. She never got hit with the ball, so we always won." Kaede clarified.

"Amazing, Yamouri. I never knew you were good at anything!" I stated, looking at her with admiring eyes.

"Hey now." Yamouri made a face. We exited the building and made our way towards the gym. "It's such a drag, though. I hate changing clothes." Yamouri complained. Kaede and I exchanged glances. We finally entered the gym and went straight to the changing room to change into shorts and a t-shirt. I looked over at Kaede who was fixing her short hair back and Yamouri, who was putting her hair into a ponytail. "Here." She handed me a hair tie. "It's better to play when you have your hair out of your face." I nodded and tied mine back, but it didn't look anywhere as good as Yamouri's.

We all went out to the gym with our class and class 2-C.

"Are both classes ready?" Asked their teacher. All students muttered things like 'yes' or 'yeah.' "Now, class 2-C go to the left and class 2-D go to the right."

"I'm glad to see you again, Yamouri." Hirofumi said, finding her. Yamouri twirled her hair around and nodded, not saying anything. Then she walked away to our side.

"Whoa, how cold." I observed.

"She did say she only likes Marui." Kaede offered. I glared at her and lightly slapped her head. "Kaya jealous. Got it." She uttered, holding her head as she went over to side as well.

"Ah, Kirihara."

I turned and saw Aoyagi and Kirihara behind me talking and smiled like crazy. Maybe Aoyagi is the girl he likes? Gasp! I wouldn't doubt it!

"Hey, Kaya, get over here!" Yamouri yelled. She scared me, so I ran over there and joined them. "Kiri! You too!"

"Yamouri, is Aoyagi the girl Kiri likes?" I asked. Yamouri flinched and turned towards me, wearing a fake smile.

"How would I know, Kaya?" Yamouri asked. I huffed as he ran towards us.

"You should all know the rules to dodge ball, so then, let's begin!" Both teachers announced. Both sides sprinted for the balls and half of each were taken. I tried dodging the balls, but, as it turned out, I was hit at the 3rd ball was thrown.

"Laaaame." Yamouri laughed as I took a seat on the sidelines. She grabbed more balls and threw it across and got at least 4 kids. I soon recognized Kaede walking towards me.

"You're out too?" I asked.

"I never said I was good at it either." Kaede replied. She sat by me and we watched as the game drew on and only Yamouri and Kirihara were standing on our side and Hirofumi and some other guy on their team. I turned and saw Aoyagi cheering on her team. She is really pretty, so I can see why Kirihara likes her.

"C'mon Yamouri! Let's go, Kirihara!" Kaede cheered, overpowering all other cheering. I took a deep breath and started cheering too. Within seconds, Yamouri hit both guys, leaving Kirihara looking like an idiot for not doing anything. "Yeeeeeah!" The class ran out towards them and congratulated them.

"Amazing job, Yamouri." I laughed, hitting her playfully. She smiled at me and pushed Kirihara towards me. "Oh, uh, good job, Kiri." I smiled and he looked away.

"It was all thanks to Yamouri." He laughed. I smiled at him before Aoyagi ran over towards us.

"Wow, Kirihara! You made it to the last two on your side. You never got out!" She cheered. I made a face and walked over to Yamouri and Kaede.

"You're an idiot, Kaya." Yamouri muttered. I jumped and gave her a confused look. Finally, it was time to go so we all went back to the changing room and changed just in time for the lunch bell to ring. "I'm so hungry!" Yamouri announced to the whole changing room of girls.

"Let's go eat then." Kaede replied. Yamouri glared at her and I smiled at them.

"I'm hungry too." I added.

"Yay! Kaya finally brought her lunch!" Yamouri teased.

"Nnh!" I stuck my tongue out at Yamouri and she just smiled. We just left the gym and were now walking back towards the main building. "Are you sure about leaving Kirihara behind?" I asked, looking back at the scattering kids from the gym.

"Don't worry about him. We're having lunch with Niou and Marui, so we'd better get back soon!" Yamouri said.

"Since when did we have lunch with them!" Kaede asked. Yamouri pointed towards the window in the building, where Niou and Marui were passing.

"They're headed towards our classroom, duh." Yamouri rolled her eyes. "Let's hurry!" Yamouri said, grabbing our hands and starting to run. She pulled us along. Is Yamouri really happy to eat with Marui? And Niou, Kaede, and me?

We ran all the way to our classroom and saw Marui and Niou sitting by our desks. "Where were you girls?" Niou asked, a glint in his eye.

"Perv." I accused as I sat down at my desk. I took out my lunch and opened it. He leaned on my desk and put his lunch on it.

"I was just asking a question." Niou whined.

"I was just stating a fact." I replied.

"Hey, hey, this is our family lunch, let's enjoy it." Yamouri giggled, taking a seat and opening her lunch. I leaned back towards Kaede.

"Family?" I questioned.

"Just go with it." Kaede said, smiling.

"Can I sit by you, Kaya?" Marui asked. I blushed and looked up at him and nodded once.

"You can't, Kirihara is sitting there." Niou said in a monotonic voice. I jumped and glared at him. Marui looked at Niou with a plain expression, then it turned into a little kid one.

"Oh, well, okay." Marui said, scooting over towards Kaede, to sit right behind me.

"Yamouri is gonna sit there." Niou said in the same tone. Marui moved to the other side of Kaede. "I'm resting my legs there." He said, putting his legs on the chair. "Feel free to sit in Yamouri's seat." Niou offered, grinning. I sighed as Yamouri started laughing. What's with Niou? She got up and moved to where Niou said she's sit.

"Feel free, Marui." Yamouri smiled sweetly. He made a confused look, but sat down. Great, so he's sitting to the right, behind me; and that's right by Yamouri. Kirihara entered the room and grabbed his lunch.

"Kirihara, you sit there." Niou said, pointing to the open seat to the right of me.

"I'm eating in class 2-C with Aoyagi." He said. I shot my head up towards him. I'm happy cuz that leaves room for Marui to sit by me, but he's leaving us to eat with one girl. "See ya!" Then he ran out again.

"That leaves a seat open for you, Marui." Kaede said after he was gone. Marui moved over to sit by me and he smiled at me.

"Let me feed you, Kaya." Niou said, pulling my head over to him and leaning my head back as he came towards me with food.

"What the heck!" I yelled, pushing him away and spilling his food all over him. He made the same face as Yamouri's bored face. "Uhhh, sorry, Niou."

"You better go wash yourself off. You're all dirty." Marui inserted. Niou stood up and glared at Marui.

"And what does that mean?" Niou growled. I shivered. I've never seen Niou angry. Well, I've only known him for 2 days, but still. Anger doesn't suit him.

"It just means the food made you dirty." Marui explained. "Nothing else." Niou grabbed Marui on his way out.

"You're cleaning me off." Niou said.

"Why me! I didn't spill it on you!" Marui whined. He dragged him out the same way as this morning.

"Intense!" Yamouri yelled. "Wow, Kaya! Just, wow!" I put my head back and looked at an upside down Yamouri and Kaede.

"Boys fighting over you…" Kaede just said that. "Seems like Niou is jealous of Marui." Yamouri crossed her arms and nodded.

"Jealousy is a strong feeling." Yamouri agreed. Kaede leaned in towards me.

"Kinda like how you're jealous of Yamouri." Kaede whispered. I jumped. So, Niou and I were jealous of Marui and Yamouri? Is this the aftermath of everything within the two days? "Just don't worry about it, Kaya." Kaede said, pulling away from me. "Just have a great time with Marui tomorrow."

"I agree, Niou will just have to accept you and Marui." Yamouri interleaved. I cocked my head to the side.

"I thought you like Marui." I uttered.

"I do, but I'm prepared to accept if you and Marui get together. To be a good rival, I have to support my rival even if it's my own loss." Yamouri lectured. She's right. "Leave Niou to me when they get back." I nodded and sat back up. Right on cue, they came back in. Niou still dirty from the food. Marui was looking down at the floor. "Niou! Let's go get you some more lunch!" Yamouri offered. Niou looked at her and shook her head. Marui took his seat next to me, but Yamouri grabbed Niou and stopped him.

"No thanks, Yamouri, I'm okay." He replied.

"I insist. You wouldn't turn down a poor defenseless girl, would you?" Yamouri asked. I have no clue what defenseless has to do with the sentence, but she is totally not poor!

"Um, I guess not?" Niou replied, clearly confused.

"Great! Let's go!" Yamouri said, darting out the door, holding Niou's arm.

"That was quick." Kaede commented. I nodded and started eating my peaceful lunch with Marui.

* * *

"Too much… for… brain to… handle." I stuttered, spacing out on the front board.

"Oh, c'mon, Kaya, snap out of it!" Yamouri yelled. "School is over, so don't focus on Japanese anymore." Yamouri lectured. I shook my head and snapped out of it. "Good." I looked around and saw kids packing their things and putting their desk in an orderly manner.

"Hey, Kaya, I don't mean to be rude, but," Kaede looked over my shoulder and on my Japanese paper from the first two days of school that we just got back today. "I think it'd be in your best interest to get a tutor for Japanese." I jumped and looked down at my papers. Yamouri came over and saw them too.

"Eh! For the first one I got 7 out of the 30 questions right. For the second one," I turned the page and my face fell. "I only got 3 right…"

"No way!" Kirihara laughed, taking the paper from my hands. He looked at them and his laughing deepened. He took out his papers and handed them to me.

"Wow, Kiri! You got perfect grade on them both!" I admired. He smiled as we traded our papers again.

"You should have Kiri be your tutor!" Kaede concluded. I blushed as I stood up and got my things in order.

"I-I think I'm good for now." I said, throwing random things into my bag.

"Kaya, you're going to fail if you keep going like this." Kaede ranted. "Having Kiri as your tutor is much better than calling up a stranger to tutor you. Kiri is your friend!"

"I don't mind being your tutor, Kaya." Kirihara added in. I closed my bag and turned towards them.

"Or you could have Marui be your tutor." Yamouri cut in. We all looked at her, flipping her hair. "Japanese is one of his best subjects too, plus, he's a grade higher, so he already knows all this stuff."

"Kiri is in our class! So he can always help her with in-class work." Kaede fought.

"This is like simple review for Marui!" Yamouri battled. "Isn't that right, Marui?" We all jumped and turned towards the door. He came walking in.

"Yeah, your Japanese is like child's play for my genius." Marui said, coming closer to us. "Why?"

"Kaya needs a tutor for Japanese." Yamouri explained.

"I'd be happy to be you're tutor. If it's alright with you." Marui smiled. I blushed at him.

"Whoever will be her tutor will have to go to her house everyday, around 6ish; and on Saturday they'll have to go at around 1, just to tutor her for at least two hours. Oh, the pain and suffering." Yamouri said in such a dramatic tone and in a sarcastic tone for the last sentence, like she's expect them to enjoy being at my house about everyday teaching me. Kaede made a blank face as she hit Yamouri's head and she came tumbling down.

"I'll do it!" Marui and Kirihara said at the same time.

"Eh!"

"I mean, if you want." Marui said, looking away.

"It's your choice." Kirihara added.

"I-I'll think about it. I mean, it's still the beginning of the year and all, so we'll see how I progress." I said.

"But if she doesn't do better by the first two weeks of school, she'll get a tutor." Kaede finished. I wasn't going to actually get a tutor, but great, now I have to. Well, I don't have to, but, knowing me, my grades won't be better by then. "Then she'll pick one of you!" Kaede cheered. How did I get guy friends who fight over small things and girl friends who use me to get things from my guy friends?

"Yeah, yeah, we'll see." I mumbled. "Let's go home, Marui." I said.

"Right, right." Marui laughed. "You better go home and get some rest, Kirihara. You're first game is tomorrow."

"I'm not worried, we'll slaughter the competition." Kirihara said in a confident manner.

"Do you mean that literally?" Marui teased. I cocked my head to the side. What does he mean?

"Maybe." Kirihara smirked and I shivered again. I guess you don't want to get on the wrong side of a tennis boy. "See you two tomorrow." He waved and I waved back and Marui smiled.

"See you, Kaede, Yamouri." I said, smiling at them. They waved back as Marui and I left. We started walking down the stairs. So, we didn't necessarily make today the best day like Yamouri wanted, but whatever.

"First weekend of the school year!" Marui cheered. I smiled at him and felt my heart start to race just for being near him. "It was a fast school weed because we started school on a Wednesday."

"It did go by fast." I agreed as we left the school grounds. So many students surrounded us, they were all going home too.

"I can't believe I only met you on Wednesday." Marui said. I smiled. "It seems like we've been friends for a while now."

"Yeah…" I murmured. He looked down at me and smiled.

"So, for the date, I'll meet you at the intersection again. The teams arrive at nine o'clock and it takes fifteen minutes to walk to the courts from there, so… I'll meet you at 10:15."

"10:15? Isn't that a bit late?" I asked.

"Well, they have sign in a 10, then the opening ceremonies, then they start the games, so I think we'll get there just in time." He explained.

"Ah, I see, well okay!" I chirped. I'm sure tomorrow is going to be a fun one with Marui. I can't wait.

* * *

**Well, that was it! I hope you liked it! Next it the Tennis Action!  
Review? ^^**

**Help me choose Kaya's 'potential' tutor! There is a poll on my account, so please choose who you think it should be!  
It'd help me out alot.**


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